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5<! 



CALIFORNIA REVISITED. 
i858==i897. 

BY 
T. S. KENDERDINE, 

Author of a *' Ctiliforrtia Tramp.' 

ILLUSTRATED. 

\Vetilwarc< the Star (if Elmpire luik Its way— 
Vainly we ra<-cil : <-ii;)ii hundred milvs a da/,— 
O'er BlrUKClit'K lla1ic.ll^ its effulL-ence shed. 
UkeBriUin's-'dmni 




NEWTOWN. PENNA. 



u^i2;>,3^,97 



•^^RD 05] 

MAR 14 1913 



RA 



"^ ' 2 « ^ol^iJ,-^.,,.,*:*/ 




pFefa?e. 




S he who makes two blades of grass grow where one 
grew before is proverbially, at least, a benefactor ; so 
should the author who grows the second book 
have the same title. 

But there are sour grasses, and books which sour on the pub- 
lic, and reflectively on the author, so that the survivors of the 
fittest are few. 

That this is my second venture readers of my ** California 
Tramp" will know. Those who do not will find by reading the 
coming pages that the author visited the Pacific Coast in 1858; 
so this is his second experience of Western travel. 

To the tens of thousands who went on the Christian En- 
deavor excursion the late tour to California was of interest from 
that single journey ; mine was of double interest. To cross the 
continent in six davs instead of six months ; to see towns and 
cities, and gardens and orchards where I once saw .sage-brush 
covered plains, and herds of cattle where the prairies had been 
black with buffaloes, were indeed things to note. 

While my last journey was mainly one of pleasure there were 
disappointments mingled with it in my search for the* acquaint- 
ances and land-marks of my former stay in California; not one 
did I find of the former, and of my old home I saw but its char- 
red ruins from a recent fire, and much of that journey meant 
work to get through with my sight-seeing before my fifty-day 



5i^ 



2 I'REFACK. 

excursion limit was cn(k*d. A " weariness of the flesh" was a 
good term for my condition, when after journeys by foot, stage 
or rail, I traveled until after night-fall, then to work till mid- 
night elaborating my notes. My vain searches in my old neigh- 
borhoods, and consecjuent losses of valuable time, were disap- 
pointments h'lrdly to i)e realized. I had not taken into ac- 
count the length of lour decades, and the changes they might 
bring. Besides much of the time I was traveling alone. My 
experience was that congenial companionship is a great factor in 
the enjoyment of travel. 

A good portion (jf my California space is devoted to tile old 
Spanish missions. There was a facination about them which 
held me, and 1 did my best with my limited lime to gratify my 
bent The crumbling rums of these old-time centers of Indian 
civilization are haloed with history and romance, and as )'ou ap- 
proach them a mirage is created through which tower and 
dome and red-tiled roof arise perfected; the fountains play, 
the orchards blossom and the g«irdens bloc^m, and priest and 
neophyte move amid their old-time haunts. Through the same 
imaginative process we hear in the mission's ineej)tion the ring 
of bough hung bells, and call of friar to the unseen gentile^ in 
the wilderness, and later on the Angel us ring fr(»m the new- 
built belfry. 

The efforts m.ide by antiquaiian^ and lovers ol the j)ie- 
turescjue to g.iin title to these nns>ions, so ;is, to re[)uil(i and 
stay destruction, or even to put them topraclic.il u^e.as.it Santa 
Barbara, where exten^ixe additions are l)ein'' mad^;. are L^ralif\ - 
ing; l)ut modern civilization, the same which started lluni on 
their disintegration, hangs around them with aneslin<^ power. 



PREFACE. 



and these seem but spasmodic attempts to revive the past. 
There are no congregations to practically aid these promoters, 
so, at best, the results of their unselfish effort will be but monu- 
ments of the pastoral age of California ; but even for this let us 
thank them. 

My first Crossing of the Plains was a rude reality ; my second, 
made towards the Psalmists life-limit, from its brevity and long 
lines traversed, seems a dream. May my awakening recollec- 
tions of it amuse and instruct my readers as the repetition of my 
overland travels gratified me. 

Newtown, Pcnna., r8g8. 



Doyleslown Publishing Company, Printers, 
Doylestown, Bucks Co., Penna. 



8 TO CHICAGO. 

as we learn to creep our desires take a centrifugal turn ; to go 
from the family centre, and return only on compulsion. To 
halt these, in my childhood's time, '* baby-boards" thwarted the 
door-ways, to the detriment of parental shins ; a barrier no 
longer seen ; from some unknown reason ; as they are the same 
sort of babies ; but perhaps because something equally as potent 
has come up, that we old-timers haven't noticed. There were 
then, as now, ties of more or less strength binding these strug- 
glers for infantile liberty to uncertain chair legs, or certain 
bureau feet; to say nothing of corporal or lingual punishments, 
more or less severe. It was not that our lots weren't cast in 
pleasant places ; the most restless cattle are those having the 
best pasture: it was our inherited instincts from ancestors be* 
fore the flood. Time and circumstances modify these inclina- 
tions, but the rule is none the less seen in childhood, and the 
travelers who have blaz.ed pathways through unknown lands 
show that it was in evidence through maturcr years. Had they 
been influenced by the *' setting-hen" maxim, Pike Lewis, Clark 
and Fremont might have been moss-backed stones, if such a 
simile is admissable, instead of the shining lights of travel and 
exploration they were. They opened paths through our west- 
ern •domain for succeeding generations to follow, and spread 
civilization over the Middle and Far West, until it lighted up 
the Pacific coast line ! 

Forty years ago, endowed with youth, a spirit of adventure 
and the Western fever, and with few of the belongings of my 
predecessors afore mentioned, I started on a journey whose suc- 
cessive stages, and springless ones they were, took me to the 
western verge of California. I need not tell my readers how 
different was the situation of the countrv between the Missouri 
river and the Western ocean at that time, and the present ; but 
still I will do it. The railway system had not reached farther 
west than Jeflerson City, and there was but forty miles of track 
in California — between Marysville, at the head of uncertain, 



CALIFORNIA REVISITED. 9 

light draft navigation on the Sacramento, and Oroville. The 
scant settlements in Kansas were seething with border warfare, 
brought about by efforts of the pro-slavery party to fasten 
human chattel-hood on our Western territories, and among 
them murder, arson and robbery were common. Leavenworth, 
where I first halted, was under periodical excitement from the 
coming in of outraged settlers. Some of these were eloquent 
over their misuse, and that town, being generally in sympathy 
with the Free-soilers, gave them aid and comfort. Two hun- 
dred miles back the Indian roamed free, and these were **really- 
truly** Indians; none of your Carlisle brand in blue; but clad 
in skins of wild animals, when not in exclusively their own, and 
mounted on active horses, when on their travels, and armed with 
spear or rifle. The prairies were in places black with Buffalo. 
At frequent intervals the long vertebrated lines of the white- 
roofed wagons of emigrant and transportation trains, drawn by 
weary oxen, rose and fell on the undulations of the plains* 
Beyond these arose the Rocky Mountains, amid which, on 
Cherry creek, the finding of gold and silver was just taking 
place, which was to make Denver the great City of the Plains, 
but, though within a hundred and fifty miles of it, I did not hear 
of the strike for months after. During the six months of my 
journey there were many important events transpiring of which 
I was ignorant. I did not hear from home for ten months, 
from my having no abiding place permanent enough to be 
reached. Brigham Young and his Mormon followers were mak- 
ing all the trouble they could for James Buchannan ; then having 
enough of his own in connection with Kansas. Far away, on the 
Pacific the Californians were delving for gold, as now, but they 
were isolated from the East, whose news was three or four weeks 
old. A journey from New York to San Francisco involved that 
time by sea, and one of six weeks by land, via railroad to Jeffer- 
son City, steamer to Leavenworth, stage to Sacramento and by 
river again to the journey's end, and the traveler thanked his 



10 TO CHICAGO. 

good angel if, between steamboat blow-ups, and wild Indians, he 
got safely through. Bearing this in mind and the fact that I 
started alone, and knew no one at the different destinations 
made by successive journeys, my feelings were very different 
from these I experienced when, on the 28th day of June, 1897, 
I made my second overland start to the Pacific ; for now I had 
congenial friends for company and traveled surrounded by com- 
forts with which modern ingenuity had provided us. Our 
starting place in 1858, was from Eleventh and Market streets; 
although the emigrant cars came from Dock street to Market, 
and then out. The freight depot was where the store of Wana- 
maker now is ; in fact he did business for years in that build- 
ing. We were drawn to We.st Philadelphia by mules, when 
locomotives replaced them. Where now are the Public Build- 
ings was Penn's Square ; or rather squares ; as the Broad and 
Market street sections divided it in four parts. Beyond here 
the city was not solidly built and we crossed the Schuylkill on 
a wooden bridge. Cobble-stone pavements ; no electric lights ; 
north or south-bound passengers going through the city in car- 
riages or on foot to meet steam lines on the outskirts ; omni- 
busscs still running ; such was the Philadelphia of that period. 

I will never forget the time when I started on what seemed 
to me an adventurous journey; although to the best of my 
knowledge the county papers did not notice it ; but then the 
local reporter was not abroad much at that time. He was too 
busy running the hand-press, setting type, or doing menial duty 
for the editor. Twice in a life-time a common man "got his 
name in the paper ;" when he was married, and died ; but the 
last announcement brought but little satisfaction to him. Now 
the visit of Tom-Dick to his aunt in the next village is a 
matter of public interest, and the local Jenkins so records it. I 
was unused to the world's ways, and, as I said, had youth and 
its adjuncts as companions, but I had my heart well up my 
throat as I wended my lonely way to the old depot. I remem- 



CALIFORMA REVISITED. I I 

ber stopping at a cake shop on 6th street, kept by a nice old 
woman Friend, and the interest she took in me when I told her 
of my proposed journey. It was night, but her kindly talk was 
as a ray of sunlight to my clouded spirits. Those were not the 
days of dining cars, so thoughtful travelers took their lunch 
along. Neither were those the times of Pullman sleepers. The 
tourist curled up in his seat and fought wakefulness the best he 
could. 

Our train was composed of fourteen cars, well filled with the 
average style of passenger. The time of the observant travel- 
er need not be confined to the passing scenery. Human 
nature, as it is found in the whirling car, can have its portion. 
Nearing Lancaster I got in conversation with a man whose fads 
were the greed of corporations and the corruption of the State 
Legislature. In his pocket he held a pass from the railroad he 
was passing over for both himself and wife, which he had coax- 
ed from a legislator who held them with pthers for services ren- 
dered. From another source he expected to get sleeping-car 
tickets on to Chicago. He was apparently an intelligent, well- 
to-do man. Generally we have .sense enough to keep silent 
when the recipient of favors we condemn others for holding, but 
this honest man^ seemed dazed with his good luck. 

Another instance, on similar lines, I will narrate, although oc- 
curing on another part of the route. The geniality of the.se 
lapsers from the moral code is such, and their over confidence 
in their listeners so prominent, that I hesitate, even remotely, to 
expose them, so I mention no locality. One of these told me 
he was a contractor on certain lines of municipal work, and was 
now on his road home from a ** letting." Did he get the job ? 
No, but he had done better. How could that be? Oh! the 
bidders got together the night before the meeting of the Com- 
missioners ; " fixed" things so a certain firm would get the con- 
tract, arranged the pro rata and went home. The joke of it was, 
a responsible party, who had sent a certified check as collateral. 



12 TO CHICAGO. 

in case he was the fortunate bidder, was away below the rest. 
But, you see, he was not there, and therefore ** not in it." 

The Rocky Mountains, " rock-ribbed, and ancient as the sun.*' 
shadowed the scene of this transaction and should have overawed 
the easy-virtued Commissioners and the tempting contractors into 
shame for their doings. The snow, manth'ng the summits of 
these " temples of the Lord," should have suggested the judi- 
cial ermine, before which they might sometime have to account 
for their actions. Hut the mountains glowered and gleamed in 
vain. Greed, not sentiment, was the prevailing factor in the 
minds of the actors in this farce, and it takes more than smiles 
or frowns to dispel that. 

This party, like the first, was down on Trusts, Monopolies, 
Corruption in Politics, the National Banking system, and the 
Gold-bugs, and other Capitalized Bug-a-boos — in short was a 
Populist ; and only lacked opportunity to do all he condemned 
others for doing. When I criticized his methods he said he 
started out to do a .straight business; but finding that those who 
acted to the contrary came out ahead of him he abandoned 
that olan. 

l^eyond Lancaster the country improved, and the large paint- 
ed barns showed the thrift of the descendants of the early Dutch 
settlers. We were paralleling the turnpike, named from that 
town, and I thought of the .strings of Conestoga wagons, that in 
ante- rail road times passed over it on the way to Philadelphia, 
and the great improvements in freightage from these to canals 
and thence to steam transit. At Harrisburg quite a delegation 
of Dunkards boarded the train from a World's Conference of 
that sect just held in F*rederick, Maryland. Clad in their plain 
garb they were distinctly outlined from the rest of the pass- 
engers. The women seemed to take an inferior position before 
the men ; speaking deferentialy, if at all. Barring their indif- 
ference to education and the exe? ci.se of the ballot, they are a 
good class of citizens — sober, honest and industrious. 



CALIFORNIA REVISITED. 1 3 

As we passed through Harrisburg, with its Capital in ashes 
and some of its legislators accused of making merry at its burn- 
ing, at thoughts of the jobbery and corruption, consequent on 
the building of a new one, I wondered if the new halls, now be- 
ing planned, would be the abiding places of an improved race of 
counselors ; or still be disgraced with the class hitherto sent to 
the City on the Susquehanna. A few were true to their trusts ; 
but the many ; well, the less said about them the better. 

Soon we were rattling and screeching up the river of the hue 
cerulian ; the former home of ** bright Alfaratta,'* and her twin 
rhyme. Between hills and then mountains the Juniata winds 
and the railroad follows, until, forced to leave it, the iron high- 
way winds about the flanks of the Allcghenies, tunnels through 
them and de.scends their western slopes to Pittsburg. Along 
the Juniata we see the remains of the canal which succeeded 
the Lancaster pike, and its continuations as a freight and pa.s- 
senger route to the far VVe^t. The sight of this water-way re- 
minded me of a sketch from *' American Notes," where Dickens 
portrays the infelicity of travel, as exemplified in a journey on 
this canal on his westward way. His conveyance was a packet 
boat. It rained all the way up the caml. so that the passengers 
were "cabined, cribbed, confined" in the hold : a combination of 
kitchen, dining-room and bed-chamber. The graphic descrip- 
tion of the victuals ; the gourmandizinji ; the social expectora- 
tion around the sizzling stove ; the arranging of the sleeping 
accommodations, then tentatively working their way towards 
the luxuries of the Standard Pullmans ; the drawing '»f lots as to 
who should have the choice berths, if any there could be in 
such a Calcuttan hole ; the nocturnal hawkini; and continuance 
of what the stove had hitherto been the recipient ; the added in- 
fliction of snoring; the morning awakening; the bath, through 
the media of tin-basin, brown-soap, dipper and canal water; with 
the mutual hair-brush and comb as an a|)petizer for the heavy 
breakfast to follow; all the.se you have read who have gone 



I4 TO CHICAGO. 

through the ** American Notes," with the lanky " Brown For- 
ester" thrown in for good measurement. Up this canal, besides 
the passengers, there went on slower boats merchandize for the 
Far West. At Hollidaysburg arose the mountains with their 
silent warning to the canal, ** thus far shalt thou come and no 
farther." But this did not apply to the boats. Cars slid under 
these amph4bians, and by the aid of hempen cables, wire ropes 
were unknown, attached to slowly revolving drums at the heads 
of numerous ** planes" they were drawn out and over a primi- 
tive tramway ; the fore runner of the splendid mountain system 
which takes the Pcnn^^ylvania railroad through the AUeghenies, 
and let down to the waters flowing to the Ohio. By this means 
went thousands of passengers and thousands of tons of freight to 
populate and comfort the great West. During the Mexican 
War soldiers, their arms and other belongings, took this route 
from Philadelphia to Pittsburg, where they descended the 
Ohio and the Mississippi to New Orleans. Even yet you can 
sec the remains of the Portage railroad marking the mountain 
side as you cross the summit, and you naturally get to com- 
paring the old ways of traveling with the new — the fast moving 
passenger train, with its various luxuries, and Dickens* canal 
packet with its disappetizing horrors. 

Almost forty years ago I followed my present route to Pitts- 
burg, and before leaving it I cannot help giving my feelings on 
the two journeys. On my present I was reasonably sure of a 
satisfactory ending. On the other, taken in a spirit of youthful 
adventure, I was full of. doubt as to the outcome, and I remem- 
ber, as I passed from river to river and from mountain to mount- 
ain, as valleys verged and peaks blended, their grandeur and 
beauties paled in the uncertainties clouding the future; still I 
was young, and normal youth don't stay long in the dumps. 

It might be interesting to know what was in my mind when 
on my original journey ; merely as a sample of the feelings ol 
other youthful travelers. A school-mate had left for the fai 



CALIFORNIA REVISITED. I 5 

Pacific a year before. The picturesqueness of his going forth ; 
with his hair, let grown for a year in anticipation, on his should- 
ers, even as Absalom's ; his rough hunting suit ; his rifle and 
pistols, with ammunition, graded for animals, from buflalo down, 
for he went armed as if Oregpn swarmed with game the most 
varied, impressed me ; and him I saw ahead as a prominent 
figure. Then as a surrounding of this Nimrodic hero I beheld 
wild game, daring hunters and Indians ad libitum. I saw my- 
self mingling with these in the regulation way, and the emerg- 
ence, in the usual manner of adventures, with an acquired com- 
petence ; whether from the sale of furs, gold finding, or the ac- 
quiring of land, it did not matter how ; and a settling down in a 
patronizing way about my old home; unless official honors de- 
tained me, after growing up with the country. That was a 
dream; the reality was a series of hardships, the most prosaic, 
from the Missouri to the Pacific ; of which hunting, Indian 
fighting and mining formed an infinitessimal part, and I return- 
ed in a year satisfied with my experiment, and ready to try my 
fortunes in the usual hum-drum way at my old home. As to 
my school mate, my then heroic ideal, he was a disappointed 
man after a few months' experience in the Oregon wilderness, 
and leaving it started for home alone by way of Southern Cali- 
fornia and Texas. After many hardships he reached Galveston, 
where, stricken with yellow fever, he died and his bones now lie 
on the shores of the Mexican Gulf This was happening while 
I was on my travels and I did not hear of it until I arrived 
home. 

At Pittsburg my routes of '58 and '97 parted. Then I went 
around by Detroit to Chicago ; now on the direct road. At the 
Smoky City, a name at one time likely to be a misnomer, on ac- 
count of the discovery of natural gas in the neighborhood, and 
the probability of its taking the place of coal for manufacturing 
purposes, but now fully appropriate on account of the partial 
failure of the former fuel, we changed our news center, as time 



V- 
l6 TO CHICAGO. jt 

is changed farther west. Philadelphia had been this point uadl-- 
we crossed the mountains ; now it was Pittsburg whose papeljk^ 
were bought for the news. When our long train left here it walk- 
through darkness and we were in Indiana before daylight shov*^ 
ed. Much of the land was low and wet and as I saw the broad' 
stretches of water-logged prairie I thought of Hosea Biglow^ 
quatrain : 

" I'd rather live on Gamers Hump, 

And be a Yankee Doodle bejjjjaT, 
Than where they never sec a stump, 

And shake to death with fever and a^ue." 

Camel's Hump is a New t)ngland mountain peak. The fana 
buildings were low, unwhitewashed, and many leaning over and 
ready to fall ; the fences poor, and the country generally ua^ 
prepossessing. 

By 8 o'clock we were in Chicago ; that marvel of modem 
cities. To compare it with the town of one hundred thousand 
people I saw on my early visit would be like using the sun and 
moon for comparisons; though even then its people were showing 
the restless, disatisfied spirit betokening greatness. To overcome 
the disadvantages of its swampy site whole streets were being 
raised for drainage from four to six feet and confusion abound* 
ed. Temporary wooden roadways and sidewalks, and thou- 
sands of jack-screws slowly raising houses, in which people 
were living and busily pursuing their daily avocations, were 
objects of interest. The suburbs were but a short distance from- 
the Lake front and some of these disreputable; among theiM(- 
** The Sands'* on the North river. My inability to procui#> 
work there might have prejudiced me against Chicago on mj? 
former visit. Now everything was pleasant and interesting. My?, 
short time there was spent in the '* wheat-pit." riding throu^lC. 
the Lake residence and Park sections, where I again revolved!^ ' 
my old acquaintance, the Ferris Wheel, of World's Fair fanie-j ' 
this rotary wonder having been moved to the north side of the* 
city. 



CALIFORNIA REVISITED. I 7 

m 

Of two great enterprises inaugurated since my first visit to 
Chicago one, the great water ** in-take" from the Lake, was suc- 
cessfully finished ; the other, the great Drainage Canal, designed 
to make pure the water supply, no matter which way the wind 
blew over the Lake, was nearly completed. This was almost as 
important towards Chicago's health as that draining the Valley 
of Mexico. A visit thereto was one of the most interesting 
events on my westward journey. After the raising of the streets 
the sewerage was complete; but the pollution of the water 
supply was increased. The extension of the main under the 
Lake and the re-extension was only a temporary relief Then 
the canal extending to the Illinois river was made use of; the 
sewage being raised to its level by pumps and water-wheels. 
But the growth of the city was too great for this expedient ; so 
the Mammoth Drainage Cut was inaugurated. This was not a 
deepening of the old canal, but making a new one paralleling its 
line. The City of Chicago was unable to cope with such an 
undertaking; nor was Illinois; at least their people said so; so 
the National Government was called on with the plea that it 
would be invaluable in war time, as a ship canal for inland tran- 
sit from the Lakes to the Gulf Its aid was all that was wanted, 
and, being obtained, the work proceeded. When completed its 
cost will equal two-thirds of a water way from Chicago to New 
Orleans which will float vessels of twenty-two feet. That the 
railroads centering in Chicago, with their great influence, will 
ever allow the canal to interfere with their traffic is very doubt- 
ful. More thin a huge sewer it is not likely to be. Even for 
this purpo.se St. Louis revolts against it. That city feels that the 
filth from Chicago, flowing past its borders, is adding fresh 
trouble to those caused by the Windy City's rapid strides in its 
advance beyond it, and will still more prevent its prosperity in 
comparison. The ditch is now about twenty miles long; the 
surface width is 260 feet, the bottom 160 and the depth from 38 
to 44 feet. Much of the western portion is through hard rock. 



1 8 TO CHICAGO. 

which was cut by channelling machines until it looks like a 
smooth wall. Ncaring Chicago two-thirds of the depth is adobe 
clay, similar to the Califi)rnia variety, which makes good sun- 
dried bricks ; it is so tough and hard. The adobe portion the 
contractors are into now and they will be about two years finish- 
ing it. A huge dredger on a railroad track is doin^ the work, 
and in spite of the hardness of the clay, which comes out like 
rocks, it advances two feet per hour, on an average, the whole 
width. The clay excavation amounts to iSo cubic feet per 
minute; the sand and gravel, above the formation, two or three 
times as fast. The adobe is so tenacious a pick can hardly be 
forced into it, and yet the huge, pronged steam-shovel surges 
into it. disintegrates it. and loads it on to cars, at the foot of an 
extension railway, which rises to an elevation seventy feet above 
the bed of the channel. This tramway, sloping to an angle of 
forty degrees, moves back and forth on a cross track, as the 
dredger ailvances or recedes in making its cuts. On the rock 
section a huge cantilever derrick was used, pivoted on a truck 
running on a tramway on top of the dump. This was 640 feet 
long and swung to the height of 60 feet above the cut. Twelve 
million cul)ic yards of ^olid ruck were removed by this. As this 
expands 80 per cent, when hri>ken up it amounted to 
twenty-two millions on the "spoils" uuin[j; a new term for the 
removals l)eing " s[>()ils.'' Thi.re were " side issues" connected 
with the Drainage immen.-e in conception. What is known as 
the River Division, to change the flow of the drainage of the 
Desplaines river, i^ thirteen miles long and two hundred feet 
wide at bottr»m. The work has been in pr(\gress since 1 892 and 
the huge " wind- row" of earth and rock, with the ditch below, 
extending mile after mile across the i)rairie, is a marvelous sight, 
and yet there are plenty of Chicago's grown uj) citizens who 
have not harl the curi(»sity to go see it The old canal near by 
is a ditch in comparison ; full of slow moving slime, and rare is 
the vessel that ripples its .stygian blackness, though once a 



CALIFORNIA REVISITED. 1 9 

means of active commerce connecting Lake Michigan with the 
Gulf of Mexico. No wonder the jealous City of St. Louis shud- 
ders at thoughts of the huge stream of filth that will flow 
through the enlarged canal and whose terrors will be commen- 
surate with its capacity ; and all this unwelcome tribute to pass 
by its city front, and from a concienceless rival ! 

When the enterprise is completed, and it will cost $15,000,000, 
a new sewerage system must be adopted by Chicago which in- 
volves new lines and the abandonment of old ones now entering 
the Lake. Then with the water of this inland sea turning the 
current of the Chicago river backward and into the Mississippi, 
and its sewage by St. Louis, will be inaugurated an event which 
will make the people of the Second City of America happy. 



>4fe^^-^ 



II. 



j^poll the piainf. 




(^li ! land «>f quartz and placer mine, 

Of {^rain and fruit and oil and wine 
And clin)ate, which the "tender feel" 

Are t<)l<l i> siuiie as bread and meat I 
Willi l<»ad->ti>ne draft thy metalled hills 

l)rf\v oil the East in " forty-nine," 
Am<1 now aj^ain with added will 

Thou'rt workinj^on another line I 

I Il^N tlic Society of Christian Endeavor decided that 
their 1897 ^Mtherin^ should beheld in, San Fran- 
cisco tlierc was no idea that the western exodus 
woiihl 1)1' so jj^rcat. Tliat possibly ten thousand might go was 
thou<;ht; but thai fifty thousand, some claim seventy thousand, 
wouhl !)iavi' the fiti^ucs ami expenses of a trans-continental 
jourm:)' would have been deemed im[)i()bable ; but it was even 
>(>. The centr.d starting; point w.is Chicago. There was one 
r.ulroad >ent out forty-two train loads. The low rate agreed on by 
the railroad comi)anies and the sto[)-oir privileges allowed of course 
wure prominent figures in the matter. PVom the city named to 
San Francisco ami return, inside of seven weeks, the fare was 
but fifty dollars; while the rate thence from the East was but 
one cent a mile. Fri^m California the tourists could come back 
on any road, by either New Orleans, St. Louis, Chicago, St. 
Taul or Canada Pacific route. The congestion of travel was of 

(20) 



CALIFORNIA REVISITED. 21 

course great. Delegations were cut up into sections of twelve 
to fifteen cars each, and went stringing, one after another, on the 
various continental lines. As these were all single-tracked, ac- 
cidents followed causing the loss of several lives ; when it was 
decided to withdraw all freight trains until the rush was over ; 
after which there was no trouble. The class of travel was of a 
high order and much impressed the people of the far West where 
towns were traversed. Religious services were held on some 
trains twice a day ; there being many clergymen along who 
alternated in leading ; although not more than half the tourists 
were Christian Endeavorers. All must leave Chicago between 
the 29th of June and 2d of July and be back there by the 15th 
of August. A great portion, however, went on the contract, or 
"personally conducted" system ; meals, sleeping accommoda- 
tions and certain side excursions included ; among which was a 
tour through the Yellowstone Park. The limit of this was 
thirty days, and the cost $178. The fare from Philadelphia to 
San Francisco, for those who wanted to stop there and return 
inside the fifty-day limit, and which included meals and sleeping 
accommodations and an excursion up Pike's Peak, to Salt Lake 
and a trip from San Francisco to Monterey, was about $100. 
To this must be added $43 for the return journey and such ex- 
tra excursions as might be made. Including Yosemite, Yellow- 
stone Park, Southern California and its places of interest ; with 
daily expenses added, the cost of a fifty-day trip ran up to ^300. 
or more, according to the economy of the tourist. Leaving out 
the Yosemite, and replacing it with other excursions of equal 
interest to many, a fifty-day trip was made for ^260. As the 
common cost had hitherto been ^400 to $500, the cheapness of 
the present rates can be understood. 

On seeing such immense delegations of Christian Endeavor 
people going their way to the convention the question was 
often asked "What good ?" I think the consensus of opinion 
among those acquainted with the condition of society in Cali- 



\ 



^ 



22 ACROSS THE PLAINS. 

fornia will say "A great deal I" That is called the **GoldeD 
State/' although the large addition to its products since it got 
that name makes it somewhat of a misnomer. But I don't 
think its most atheistic enemy would call it a religious State, 
Nevertheless there is a strong sentiment holding sway there, 
gaining ground and getting more and more able to overcome 
the indifference to certain old-fashioned notions on reh'gion and 
morality; the effects of which indifference, or worse, have a ten- 
dency to prejudice the average tourist against certain sections, and 
make him think society conditions worse there than what they 
are. When the invitation was extended to the Endeavorers to 
come among their comrades of the farthest West to hold their 
convention, fears were entertained that the accommodations 
would not be equal to the emergency ; but they were, and the 
strangers within their Golden Gate went away satisfied ; while 
their hosts were doubly so in the strength which had been 
^nvcn them to go on with their laborious work. Much concern 
was felt about the financial part of the undertaking ; but that 
was a success. This was to a large extent in the hands of the 
business community, hence, many who gave did so with little 
knowledge of the animus behind the great flood of Christian 
tourists. They .seemed to think them a sort of "Saengerfest," or 
"Turnverien," and it was "business" to subscribe money for the 
entertainment ; so the sight of saloons and theatres, and low 
resorts decked with the Endeavor colors, yellow and purple, 
was common. 

On the 29th of June, at 10 o'clock at night, we rolled out of 
the town whose Indian name was *'Wild Onion ;" perhaps with 
the odor of its sewage river, of the same name, in perspective. 
My lines of travel of the past and present converged here, and 
here they separated. Comparisons are odious, they say; but it 
depends on which way you look. To me it was pleasant to 
think how different were the surroundings now from then^wheD* 
in a dimly lighted emigrant car with a couple of armed, hall. 



CAUFORNIA REVISITED. 23 

drunk ruffians for company, I started westward. In the morning 
we found we had crossed Illinois and were well over Iowa. At 
Boone we stopped for breakfast, a me-^l in which were premoni- 
tions of the grease which, farther along, was to float our potatoes^ 
We found here the crowd, so common afterward, to see how we 
ate. The dullness of the times was apparent and many people 
were out of work. The bron£e button, denoting the war 
veteran, was in evidence among these, and the sight was sad- 
dening and suggestive. As we resumed our journey blizzards 
were brought to mind in the sections of snow fences, now and 
then manifest ; while Summer's fruitfulness was shown in the 
growing crops; among which the most prominent was white 
clover; suggestive of milk and honey, with which the pasturage 
gleamed. The huge corn cribs, full of last year's crops, were a 
sight which would have been pleasanter if we had not known 
their contents were in the hands of speculators at a nominal 
price to the farmer. At noon we came to Council Bluffy, so 
named from the Indian gatherings here in the long ago. There 
isolated steeps are peculiar ; rising, as they dn, in fluted confor- 
mations from base to summit Soon the Missouri, broad and 
yellow with mud, came in sight. Of course I thought of the old 
times spent on its shores and steamboats; the last gaining 
prominence from hearing that two days before one of them had 
passed up the river ; an event which once had been a common 
occurence. In 1858 the St. Louis levee was lined with steam- 
ers, whose cruising grounds were the large rivers centering 
there. I had several acquaintances with them, as they " rocked 
and raved" up and down the Missouri and knew their " tricks 
and manners" from steerage to cabin ; so different from their 
£ast.ern forerunners in build. Their hospitable captains, swear- 
ing .mates, gambling passengers and piratical deck hands were 
impressive; to say nothing of the night travel ; the ** rounding- 
to/* at the down stream stops, and the " wooding-up," with its 
rushing file of billet-laden ** roustabouts," black and white, and 



24 ACROSS THE PLAINS. 

cursing, urging mates. Then there was the heaving of the lead 
in the glare of the " fat-wood" torch h'ght and the plaintive cries 
of the leadsman as he gave forth his ** six-feet/' " quarter less 
twain," " by the mark twain ;" from which last measurement, 
two fathoms, or twelve feet, Samuel Clemmensgot his pen-name. 
Those who traveled on western rivers forty years ago will well 
remember these scenes and sounds. Considerable comment, 
this, from hearing of a back-number steamer going up the river » 
but it was of a class like the Great Awk and Dodo, soon to be a 
vanished vision. 

Across the turbid Missouri and we were in Omaha. In no 
States, as in the Western, do the people so stand up for their 
towns. When it comes to locating State Capitals they fight 
Nowhere else is there such jealousy ol rivals and exaggeration 
of population and resources. To induce the coming of com- 
mercial enterprises the citizens coax, threaten and sometimes in- 
volve themselves to financial ruin in raising money to aid them. 
While we were there the Omaha folks were exulting over the 
fact that the Armour Packing Company was about erecting a 
million-dollar plant and the Union Pacific lessees a depot to cost 
the same amount. 

At 2 o'clock we were again on our way across the plains of 
Nebraska. We traversed a rich farming region which showed 
over-production; judging by full cribs and rotting hay stacks. 
In fifty miles we came in sight of the Platte river, which I had 
followed up, with my six-yoked ox-wagon, from its mile-wide 
waters to where it showed a width of but fifty feet ; a brawling 
mountain stream in the heart of the Rockies. From what our 
conductor said we would not near the river for so long after 
night that we could not see it. The sight of this stream brought 
up memories which shadowed the thoughts of my present 
journey, for with my patient oxen I had toiled up its valley for 
four months ; while the rains of springs merged to Autumn 
droughts and the warmth of Summer to the cold of late Oc- 



-4 



i 



CALIFX>RNIA REVISITED. 2$ 

tober, and suffered privations I did not think so much of then, 
for I was young and tough and became schooled to them ; but 
which I often think of now. If familiarity breeds the contempt 
the proverb credits it with I should certainly despise the Platte, 
for I was extremely familiar with it in my hundreds of miles ac- 
quaintance. It is a varied river in its length of 1250 miles. The 
main stem is 300 miles to the Forks. The South Platte is a 
shallow, sandy river to Denver, and the most of the water used 
is for irrigation. The North Fork is larger and has more abrupt 
banks and at its junction with the Sweet Water turns to a mount- 
ain stream. The main river is from three-fourths of a mile to 
two miles wide ; with banks not over four feet high where the 
breadth is the greatest. The depth does not average over six 
inches in the Summer; so its Indian name of Nebraska, or Shal- 
low River, is well-fitting. It is full of islands varying from a 
few square yards to an acre or more in extent, although Grand 
Island, near Fort Kearney, is an exception, being several miles 
long. To the early traders and trappers it was a deceitful 
stream; in their descent promising navigation to their light- 
draft, fur-laden boats ; then luring them into blind leads. At 
times they would be a day going two miles, and after all have to 
abandon the river and pack their loads to the frontiers. The 
islands are sometimes merely sand-bars ; at others covered with 
trees and thickets of willow, which have a singular appearance, 
sometimes, as imagination conjures from their outlines familiar 
objects. 

One hundred miles from Omaha we came to Kearney, op- 
posite the old fort of that name, where the emigrant trail struck 
the river in its northwest course from Fort Leavenworth. These 
two posts, with Laramie, Bridger and Camp Floyd, made up the 
series of military stations between civilization and the Pacific 
Ocean. Fort Kearney is now dismantled and in ruins ; although 
I learned the old trading post is still standing. Here outside the 
Forty but under its protection, quite a trade in furs was done in 



26 



ACROSS THE PLAIK9. 



the old times. When I ^aw it, the soldiers, music and the flag 
floating gaily from the pole on the parade ground made a bright 
spot on my journey. 

The country grew interesting as we sped westward, with its 
wheat, oats and com in immense fields and promising large 
harvests. Long lines of trees, planled for wind breaks, some- 
times hid the farm buildings, and windmills and water-tanks in- 
dicated a desire for labor-saving appliances. It certainly did 




THE OLD TIME COKKAL. 



not look like a bankrupt country. A dinner at Grand Island 
showed that, while in Nebraska, we were traveling in Grease. 
Bacon, potatoes and hot biscuit were as islands in melted lard ; 
but for those who are fond of such it tastes good. Grand Island 
has I2.000 people, railroad shops and a sugar beet factory, 
where tons of sugar are daily made. 



CALIFORXIA KEVISITF.D. 2^ 

In weaving this narrative of my present journey I cannot help 
introducing some of the rough strands from that one of the far 
past. In fact an excursion of the " personally conducted" class 
is a tame affair. Of course it is comfortable and all that, and 
full of pleasant recollections and anticipations. You know you 
will have a nice breakfast ; a good dinner; and a following o^ 
the .same kind of supper, — all well lubricated when you get we.st 
of the Missouri — and at night the tipped porter will luck you in 
your little beds, so to speak, and in the morning you will find 
your shoes nicely blacked, sometimes. It is also supposed some 
person will be on hand to tell what is what and which is which ; 
although in our case he was missing ; maybe it was because 
there were too many of us or too few of him. This might easily 
be ; for there were twelve car-loads of passengers, and he could 
not be in each when an inquirer wanted to put the question. 
But had we not a porter in each car ! We had, and not one of 
them had been over the road before. The river might be this ; 
the town that and the snow-clad peak the other ; but he would 
not know it. His answer was like the ** Quien Sabe !'* — who 
knows? — of the Mexican, for all the good it did us. Squaro 
mealSy soft beds and good society can be had at home. When 
traveling you want something more. You need to get in touch 
with the people of the country you are traveling through. On 
my westward journey I paid my money and was served with the 
best the market afforded ; when I returned I patronized neither 
the Pullman Parlor or Dining Car and I survived to tell the tale. 
I was no demagogue with an axe to grind ; avoiding the cla.sses 
to mix with the masses. I traveled in a day- coach and had an 
opportunity to mingle with returning Californians, farmers and 
miners, who were satisfied to travel outside Pullman accom- 
modations; also with transient travelers who, as such, were well 
acquainted with the country. 

A peculiarity of the section we were now traversing was the 
lengthened twilight. The farmers were working sixteen hours 



28 ACKOSS THE PLAINS, 

a day and wishing the nights were shorter. In my desire to see 
as much of the Platte Valley and familiar river this prorogued 
darkness was welcome. Thirty miles from Kearney we were in 
what was the heart of the Buffalo countr}' forty years ago, a 
period verging on the time when three pounds of sugar or cof- 
fee would buy a buAalo robe of an Indian. Opposite here I had 
my first buffalo hunt; an experience nearly resulting in the re- 
versal of the usual process My getting lost thnt night in the 




A STKAXIlEl) SCnUOXER, 



mazy sand liills, ;md my feelings thereat are prelty indelibly 
fixL-d on my mind. So are the trials of that part of my Journey ; 
the stalling of our teams in miry fl.its of some parts of the route 
and our dusty drive'* in others, when with lolling tongues and 
bowed head- our c:iltle ploddud their tired way. The dead oxen 
lining the road-way and the darker objects in the distance, de- 
noting buffalo wantonly slaughtered, are remembered. Thesight 
of the shallow islanded river also brought up one eventful night 



CALIFORNIA REVISITED. 29 

when, on account of the shoreward guard going to sleep, the 
herd of oxen clambered down the bank and *' pulled for the 
shore" beyond in a sort of slow stampede. My struggles through 
water, quicksands and over islands and sandbars, until the mis- 
chievous leaders were reached and turned back, with the rest 
of the oxen following in the star-lit darkness, come vividly 
back to me as I look through the twilight at the passing river. 
The other passengers look listlessly at the landscape, and won- 
der why one of their number takes such an interest in its same- 
ness. He has his reasons for so doing, while they wearily scan- 
ned the scenery. 

The theory that man is naturally a barbarian and only kept up 
to the civilized line by his surroundings is well borne out by 
my frontier experiences and life on the plains, when those who 
had been used to the advanced ways of the East slid into half 
savage habits with ease. The nervous strains upon us almost 
continually from daylight till dark and taking our turns on day 
herd and night watch told upon the more refined even, so they 
became hardened to the sights and sounds they met. A newly 
made, suggestive mound by the road-side, or an occasional dead 
ox in various stages of corruption, had some effect at first ; but 
afterwards we saw grave after grave, which accident or pesti- 
lence had filled, and the trail literally lined with the skeletons 
and carcasses of cattle without being affected. I confess to hav- 
ing been influenced, myself, by my altered life and it is a ques- 
tion to what extent this change might have gone had I lived a 
year with such surroundings. My experience that night in the 
Platte, as well at other times, as we toiled up its valley, bring 
these thoughts to mind, as we speed by on so differing sort of 
train. 

In connection with this I call to mind an illustrative incident. 
I must bring it in now for the speed we are making would 
soon take me beyond the scene. I was on night guard on the 
Platte hills and the oxen, having eaten their fill, had lain down ; 



CALIFORNIA RE\^ISItED. 3^ 

Si condition we always looked forward to with satisfaction, as it 
meant rest for us also. I was reclining, half asleep, half awake, 
and with dreamy thoughts of my Eastern home and future un- 
certainties, when I felt a series of blows, mingled with curses, 
and all especially directed to me. This experience lasted but a 
few moments, when the cause of it vanished in the darkness. I 
knew it was ** Irish John," a big, wiry fellow, (those who get the 
best of you, whether armies or individuals are always bigger, or 
in " overwhelming numbers'*) with whom I had an altercation of 
a verbal sort at the noon halt ; in fact such things were frequent. 
I had thought the trouble over, until this midnight engagement 
How mortified I was can only be understood by those who have 
led a frontier life. To let such a matter pass branded you as a 
coward; to take it up meant trouble of another kind. The time 
to have squared things was as soon as I got straightened up; 
but my assailant by that time was at his post on the far side of 
the herd ; besides he was as big as ever. As the rest of the cat- 
tle guard knew of the affair, I brooded over it until the time 
would come to right myself, which would be the next camp. 
Then I did what my friends thought the proper caper; called 
Irish John out. He had had his satisfaction and wanted to be 
excused ; particularly as we were not alone on the hills and he 
was unpopular with the men. But the more he backed down 
the bolder I naturally became, and the more names I called him ; 
until, for a while, I was the camp bully and he its scorn, and he 
finally slunk to his wagon. He was humble enough, afterward, 
and appeared to forgive me for his public humiliation, but I 
could hardly reciprocate. We certainly were a tough lot all 
around. 

For a change let me re-cross the Platte ; to my Pullman train 
from an ox-train ; from *' Irish John," " Whiskey Bill," " Kain- 
tuck," " Babe," " Dutch Mike" et id omne genus ; to the com- 
pany of the Reverend Mr. This and the Reverend Mr. That 
and their coadjutants, Miss This and Mrs. That, of the Chris* 



32 ACROSS THE PLAINS. 

lian Endeavorers. Could there be more difference between any 
two sets of people than between these 1858 " Bullwhackers" and 
1897 representatives of Eastern civilization ? Or, to again par- 
ticularize, more change from our shredded garments, then and 
the " purple and fine linen*' of the tourists, now ? from our roar- 
ing camp songs to exalted hymns? from our stories around the 
nightly fire to the sermons on the train ? from the ungraded 
trail, winding around obstructions and the railroad track which 
tunneled or cut through them ? from ox to locomotive ? On our 
particular excursion we were required to show a membership 
with some Christian organization before being accepted. With 
that of 1858 — well, there were no such questions asked! We 
did not know when the Sabbath came. 

There were some good singers among our drivers. While the 
songs were not refined they were not objectionable. One of 
these was the " Darby Ram," that extravaganza, then, as now, 
echoed from college halls and ** Clover Club" banquets ; an- 
other " There's Whiskey in the Jar ;" now no longer heard ; un- 
less in the homes of ** Missouri Pikers." I can hear its chorus 
yet ringing out on the night air in senseless verbiage — with a 
buffalo or wolf accompanient from the distant plain. 

" O I Ring a jing a jar 
Whack, thwack, my laddie oh ! 
There's whiskey in the jar." 

But we had sentimental ditties too. ** Dutch Joe" would sing 
one beginning — 

" My poor old mother and I did |>art, 

When I was very young 
Her memory still clings round my heart — 

How close to me she clung ?" 

This is all I can recollect, but I have seen rude men affected at 
the recital. 

Then there was ** Kitty Clyde." 

*• Oh ! who has not loved Kiliy Clyde ? 

That blue-eyed, rosy-cheeked lass, 
So trim and so neat and her glances so sweet, 

And always a smile when she'd pass.*' 



CALIFORNIA REVISITED. 33 

While Dutch Joe sang the pathetic, or sentimental, an army de- 
serter, Bill Bently, led the roaring songs ; three or four taking 
up the chorus ; the rest too tired or too sleepy to do more than 
listen. 

Then there is another song comes to my memory ; empha- 
sized on account of its personality; though not from the deceit 
and mendacity of its leading character, but personal from simi- 
larity of names and associations. This ditty referred to a cer- 
tain Stephen. Now, aware of the rude wit of my new-made, 
comrades, I did not give my first name, on coming among them, 
thinking they might bury it under some outlandish term, so 
gave them the last title of the " Great Commoner," of Lancaster ; 
from whom I was called. I had previously announced my resi- 
dence, in a general way, as Philadelphia. It so happened that 
some of my associates had heard of that town in connection with 
the saying, ** As smart as a Philadelphia lawyer ;" and it was 
short work for their Pikeish wit to degrade the profession of that 
synonim of cuteness to that of Ananias and Sapphira, through 
the " Song of Stephen," a plantation ditty : so they would roar 
at me, — 

**0, I^wd Stephen t Stephen so decievin*. 
Stephen so decievin', that the debble couldn't believe him, 
Stephen so decievin* ; Stephen sich a liar, 
The debble took a pitch-fork and pitched him in the fire." 

I felt real hurt at the upset of my intentions, but the hard- 
ships following our stationary camp-life soon took the fun and 
sensitiveness out of all. I will add that from the time I left the 
" outfit" on the Missouri, till I came home from California my 
name was " Steve ;" only this and nothing more. I give this 
Httle incident to further emphasize the dissimilarity of my com- 
panions on the two trains of '58 and '97. 

There was great difference, also, in the sleeping accommoda- 
tions on the two journeys. Then we slept in our wagons, on 
hard bags of flour. In one of these for eighteen weeks 1 lodged, 
except when on night-herd or driven to the open air by the heat. 



34 . ACROSS THE PLAINS- 

Why we had not sense enough to gather prairie grass to soften 
our beds I don't know. The veteran ox-drivers would shock us 
green-horns, early on, by reminding us that the upper side- 
boards of our wagons, when they could be spared, were used for 
coffins for their particular owners when through accident or de- 
sign they met death ; generaters of gruesome thoughts, these. 
We afterwards wondered why such superfluities were thought 
of But enough of comparisons and reminiscences of the old 
journey, or I will never finish the narration of the new. 

A part of our journey through Nebraska was what is known 
as the " abandoned-farm district" and here an occasional dis- 
mantled . house and tumbling barn with rotting ricks of hay 
showed a departed owner and a " left" mortgage holder, sighiiq; 
for worthless *' collateral." Still these deserted homesteads were 
not the rule and the " wind-breaks" in numerous ranches sur- 
rounding farm buildings and fields of rankly growing crops 
showed hope ahead. The light from these homes had a pleas- 
ant look as they gleamed through the darkening twilight I 
staid up until after midnight to sec the crossings of the two 
Plattes ; the waters of the North Fork having been followed up 
by our ox-train to near the South Pass, while the other branch 
was well remembered by me from its ford. The river was then a 
half mile broad and wc were over a day crossing on account of 
its quicksands. The night was not dark, so I had a pretty 
.satisfactory view of the ford, where, with forty picked oxen to 
each wagon, we floundered through the river. Then in my 
dripping clothing 1 remember going on night herd, when the 
gnats and mosquitoes and tortured cattle kept us moving at a 
lively pace until morning. Here our two ways parted : the En- 
dcavorers going West ; the ox-drivers to the Northwest and the 
South Pass. 

When day light came we were speeding up the river; now 
full of exposed .sand bars on account of the large amount of 
water used for irrigation. The banks were only three or four 



CALIFORNIA REVISITED. 



35 



feet high and the surrounding country not inviting. Ant hilis 
and prairie dog mounds were numerously scattered along the 
track. Jack rabbits were seen skipping about among the wild 
sage ; reminders of my former journey. Looking north was a 
range of bleak, rugged hills, beyond which was our companion 
river ; and I regretecJ our course was not along it, that I might 
again see those natural wonders ; Court Hou.se Rock, Chimney 




CROSSING THE PLATTE IN '58. 

Rock, Scott's Bluffs, Independence Rock and the Devil's Gate. 
Irrigating ditches now threaded the fields we were passing, and 
the land now took on a thriftier look. Soon we came in sight 
of the Rockies ; Long's and Grey's Peaks being the prominent 
indications. We saw snow on their summits and in the shelter- 
ed ravines well down their slopes. Weeds of the cactus and 
sun-flower kinds began to cumber the ground. The morning 



36 ACROSS THE PLAINS. 

air was cold, but the natives we met told us it was not, and they 
ought to know. Such sticklers for ** their own, their native 
land," I never saw. I asked if it ever rained, " Why yes,** said 
one, " don't you see that grass ? That was never watered" 
I looked ; and such grass ! 



>^fe< 



'^§iiSv 




l yymiitfB'tfB'tfw 



Galifsrnla Revisited. 



III. 



OoeF the 5o?I|ie|. 




The notched Sierras sawed the clouds 

By Winter's blizzards driven on ; 
The saw-dust flew in blinding drifts, 

Till deep with snow all Nature shone. 
Now this neath Summer's melting suns 

In growing currents reached the plain, 
When, thralled by man in furrowed fields, 

It rose in flower aud fruit and grain. 

HE sight of the serrated mountains stretching north- 
ward, with their melting snows coursing towards the 
Platte, and the crops raised from their irrigating waters, 
suggested the opening lines of this chapter. Although the op- 
timists of this region assert that rich harvests are raised natural- 
ly, the facts do not warrant the assertion. Though costly, ir- 
rigation pays well. 

The phrase ** When I was a boy ;" so often in the mouths of 
the garrulous and senile, is not always welcome to listeners ; so 
also may be the words " When I crossed the plains forty years 
ago ;'* but I will again risk them. At that time the City of Den- 

(37 



38 OVER THE ROCKIES. 

ver was not laid out, and the gold finds on Cherry Creek, while 
known in the East, were unheard of along the California Trail. 
The oft quoted prairie schooner, with Pike's Peak or BusC 
charcoaled on its cover, had been there and returned, with the 
lettering replaced with " Busted," before we heard of the dig- 
gings ; as for over four months we were almost oblivious to 
news. We staid too short a time in the city to see much of it, 
but were impressed with the public buildings and permanent 
look of the place generally. In the afternoon we went up Clear 
Creek Canyon, a distance of sixty miles on an excursion over a 
Narrow Guage railroad. This is known to tourists as the Loop 
Trip, from the twists and curves encountered on the way to the 
Summit at Silver Plume, and is a wild, mountain journey. In 
the mining towns passed there were 8000 people whose only 
practical way to a civilized region is over this devious road — a 
marvel of engineering skill. In thirty-eight miles the rise is 
24CX^ feet ; involving grades of 200 feet to the mile, in placesi 
and many sharp curves and loops, as the road goes up and down 
the narrow valley to make the rise, which cannot be made by di- 
rect ascent. The homes of the miners, made of rude frame or 
logs, and at times of canvas, stretched over poles are scattered 
along the canyon between the towns. The people are roughly 
dressed and the children run wild. Blue ** overalls" as a substi- 
tute for " pants," on boys of four years' old, were common, but 
universal farther on. As this is a silver-mining country, ex- 
clusively, a " gold-bug" got scant courtesy if he expressed him- 
.seir 

The groups of donkeys about the towns took one back to 
primitive mining times. They seem a necessity on the narrow 
mountain trails to camps, as yet unreached by wagon roads, for 
*' packing" ore to the smelting works and provisions back. They 
can readily carry 200 pounds and when stringing along the trail 
lend a picturesqucncss to the scene. They are worth J830 to $40 
apiece. 



CALIFORNIA REVISITED. 39 

We were a long while working our way up to Silver Plume, 
but the return was made in about half the time ; or three hours. 
We left Denver in the early morning hours and reached Man- 
itou, at the foot of Pike's Peak at 7 o'clock, and at 8 started up 
the mountain. On account of the heavy grade a cogged track 
is laid between the rails and in this gears the driving wheel of 
the engine. The car is pushed up and is not coupled to the en- 
gine ; a wise plan, for in a ravine on the road was a locomotive 
which had got away the previous year, flew the track and 
tumbled over. The car, by a curious device, was caught by the 
cog-rail and stopped. A peculiar jerking motion was given the 
car on the ascent which was quite annoying. On the mountain 
side we saw miners prospecting for gold and drifts were being 
bored. Preparations were being made for one of the longest 
tunnels in the world, through the heart of the mountain, by a 
great corporation, by which its precious secrets will be laid bare ; 
for it is rich in mineral wealth, as is the regions all around. 
The main peak, visible at the start, but afterwards shut off 
from us, was again seen as we struggled towards it. The quak- 
ing aspen, named from its easy-moving leaves, and otherwise 
peculiar from its slender trunk and white bark, was common. 
This is a hardy wood and grows at a sea elevation of 7000 or 
8000 feet and was familiar on my original journey through the 
South Pass. The grade grew heavier and the engine corres- 
pondingly increased its struggles as we ascended by sharp 
curves. Granite formations, in layers overlapping one anothen 
like Independence Rock, were seen. From Windy Point, ap- 
propriately named, we had a view of an artificial lake used as a 
reservoir for supplying the towns of Manitou and Colorado 
Springs. As no pipes could stand the pressure — 1000 pounds 
to the square inch, if the water was confined to the foot of the 
mountain — it is allowed to flow freely until a safe height is reach- 
ed. We saw another of these miniature lakes, and nestling in 
deep depressions, with the sunlight on them, they had a pleasing 



DVEK THk KflCKIE? 





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CALIFORNIA REVISITED. 4i 

appearance. The upper lake was 2260 feet above the towns it 
supplied with water. 

Two miles from the summit one of our ladies was overcome 
mth heart trouble on account of the rarefied air and was left at 
the home of a track-hand until our return. Others were begin- 
ning to suffer. As appropriate to the elevation the Endeavorers 
had intended to sing " Nearer my God to Thee" as they ap- 
proached the Summit ; but they could finish but one verse^ 
ivhen they were forced to stop for want of breath. Snow was 
all around us now and the track was so obstructed the day be- 
fore as to require shoveling off. The Summit was reached at 
last The adage " There is always room at the top" held good 
here for the reason that altitudinal conditions prevented a crowd 
from gathering ; for those left could hardly wait for the next 
car. It was a confused mass of rocks, snow and mud, and the 
picture of desolation. But the view hence is unsurpassed. The 
valleys below, with their towns looking like checker-boards • 
the mountains stretching, range after range, away ; the near-by 
peaks ; the deep gorge dropping sharply from the summit ; the 
sight of all these will be well remembered. 

But before all could enjoy the view there were some duties 
required. These were taking care of those who had succumbed 
to the eflfects of rare air. One woman was prostrate, with the 
usual crowd around, and to her an alleged doctor was giving 
brandy; the worst ** remedy" to apply at this altitude. Others 
were gasping around with contorted faces ; but by resting in the 
shelter of the ** Summit House" all but three or four were in 
good shape for the next car. Some of the hardiest of the tour- 
ists tried snow balling, just so they could tell their gaping 
frietids at home what Pike's Peak was capable of in July; but 
their sport was short lived, for there was a wind blowing which 
would take a foot-ball player's breath. 

The original Government Station is still here ; but in ruins 



OVER TBE BOCKIBS. 



and half-full of snow. This was a needed house of refuee yean 
^o ; when the ascent of Pike's Peak was an adventure; the 




first [wrt on horse back ; the last on foot, and a guide was need- 



CALIFORNIA REVI3ITBD. 43 

ed. There is now a comfortable building of double the size 
used as a restaurant, relic store and railroad station. A blazing 
mid-summer log-fire was comfortable and pleasing if seasonably 
Inconsistent The cold, thin 
air made us wish for the next 
car, which came up in an hour 
and helping the invalids on 
board we were soon speeding 
down the mountain — not for- 
getting to stop for the sick 
woman by the way — and in 
an hour were at Manitou, 

Pike's Peak was first as- 
cended by Colonel Zebulon 
M. Pike in 1804, and is one of 
y fjroup of peaks punctuating 

, ihe Rocky Mountain range, of 

ON THE RAGf.iii) t:i)GE OF wliich Grey"s, Long's and Frc- 
PIKES FEAK, mont's Peaks also hold high 

prominence. Its height is 14.000 fuel. Named for what was 
afterward General Pike it has a local importance ; he having 
been born in my native county, and, in fact, is of personal in- 
terest to me, as his home was afterwards owned by my father; 
but long since torn down. 

The railway was finished in 1891 and cost Ji,ooo,ooo, as one 
man says, or ^500,000, as another halh it ; it don't matter ; it 
gets there, regardless of cost. It is only operated about three 
months in the year, or during the tourist season. Thus far no 
accidents have happened to passeni^crs, as great care is used. 

We saw the sights around Pike's Peak, including the Garden 
of the Gods and then went on our way. For awhile this was 
southward, until at Puebla, called, from its manufactures, the 
Pittsburg of the West, we swung around at a sharp angle and 




^44 ' OVER THt ROCKIES. 

again got as far north as Denver ; going 200 miles to gain '80. 
The southern route was uninteresting, after what we had seen ; 
the land poor and growing no timber but the weedy scrub-oak. 
The mounds of the ants and prairie dog lined the way. Puebia 
is on the Arkansas, and as intimated above, an important city* 
Large smelting works are here; ores for which come froQA 
Mexico. 

f 

I 
Unfortunately the delays caused by the immense passengcir 
travel prevented our going through the Royal Gorge by day- 
light ; but from the headlights of three locomotives drawing as 
many trains close following one another and the lights of the 
cars, the depths of the canyon were fairy lighted. Prepeiations 
are now being made to illuminate the Gorge by electricity^ so 
that no matter what time the passage is made the wonders of it 
may be well seen. This gateway is where the Arkansas river 
breaks through the Sangre de Cristo — Blood of Christ — range 
of mountains and from its depth and length is noted. At one 
place the walls approach so close that a bridge swung from the 
rocks above is required to carry the road over the water until 
the canyon again widens. After we were through four more 
trains followed ; so that for days the Gorge echoed with the roar 
of continuous travel. 

At last outside the canyon-walls the country opened, but still 
we were environed by mountains. Some of these \%ere covered 
with snow half-way down, while others were part hidden with 
clouds. At one point we saw a snow-storm raging among their 
peaks. Once in awhile we passed a rude home of some cattle 
raiser, where cow-boys, unkempt women and barefoot children 
were seen. A mining camp came in sight occasionally and 
patches of cultivated land. Sage-brush and cactus abounded 
We had now left the Arkansas Valley and at Thompson's Pass 
came on to the Pacific slope, and at the height of 10,000 feet we 
passed through a tunnel and began the descent. 



CALIPORNIA HEVtSITED. 4S 

Children on the track of western travel ire taught merchan- 
dizing at on early age. At the many stops we were obliged to 
make on account of the heavy travel, they flocked around us 
I with baskets of fruit and sand- 
wiches and boxes of " speci- 
inents," or collections of min- 
erals. When one of our ladies, 
made hungry from our in- 
ability to make connection 
with our appointed dining 
place, asked a boy for a sand- 
wich he said he was out of that 
edible, but he had " speci- 
ments." This was literally 
" asking for bread and getting 
a stone," Either on the score 
of economy or because butter 
was thought to be too rich for 
our blood, cheese was used as 
a filler for the Colorado sand- 
wiches offered us. 

ROYAL GORGE. At a silver-mining town 

called Minturn we halted awhile for the usual train-wait and 
to allow the hungry a chance to skirmish for breakfast. On 
leaving Chicago we had our places for eating fixed, but as 
" the best laid schemes of mice and men" don't always hatch 
out, we met with disappointment after the second meal. The 
restaurants ahead were sometimes eaten out and the subse- 
quents were obliged to go hungry. At Manitou all had not a 
chance to dine before the stages started on a mapped out drive, 
and these must go hungry or miss a train, which, like " time or 
tide wait for no man," nor Woman either, for that matter. To 
the next chance to eat was over twenty-four hours, so the dis- 




46 OVER THE ROCKIES. 

appointed ones went hungry. The unprecedented travel was 
excuse for all this ; so no one was to blame. 

At Minturn was quite a collection of idlers ; made so, they 
said, by the inhumanity of the Plutocrats of the East and Eu? 
rope. They had a spokesman and he was ready for questions 
or arguments when brought before them by tourists. That they 
were honest in their beliefs went without saying, and that their 
assertions were superficially logical seemed admissabie ; but be- 
hind all loomed the simple fact that the silver mines had pro? 
duced more of the white metal than the world needed for 
money, and it did not pay to dig for it for mechanical pur- 
poses alone. Whenever possible I made it a point to look into 
the nature of the grievances of our Western brothers towards 
us ; not always a pleasant undertaking, when they honestly 
thought us their oppressors. William J. Bryan is their God and 
silver is their profit. His *' crown of thorn" style of speeches 
sown in their responsive hearts has grown to something hard to 
argue down. I was talking to the leader of three miners out of 
work, who were seated on a store-goods box in front of a saloon. 
He had started the subject of the burden laid on the mining and 
farming regions of the West by the Eastern money power. The 
idle silver mines ; the out-of-work, rough clad miners ; the hum- 
ble homes ; the Pullman cars and the well-dressed excursionists 
made good object lessons for my friends on the store-goods box, 
which no arguments, as to our well meaning, or our calling at- 
tention to the money the tourists wore scattering in handsfull 
along their way, could set aside. ** You say you are our 
friends," said my vis-a-vis ; " that what you do is for our good ; 
that if you make money you spend it. That's all very nice. 
But, see here ! I, like my friends here, am out of work. Do 
you see that canyon there? Well, along it I have three claims* 
I was working then ; they were paying me well and my family 
ivere having the comforts of life. My dog, you see by my side. 




CALIFORNIA REVISITED. 47 

■was fat. How is it now? It don't pay to work these mines. 
Why ? You demonitized silver. The consenuence is I am out 
I of work and my family unprovided for, 
I my dofi poor and all on account of you. 
You say you are our friends. It tires me 
to hear such talk." With one arm around 
:>g, which seemed to look in hJs 
face knowingly, and the other empha- 
sizing his words; while his friends look- 
ed eagerly at him as the champion of 
their rights and the crowd of excursion- 
ists gathered around, the scene was in- 
teresting. But what could I do to con- 
ifince him of his financial errors. Con- 
Itinuing his excited talk he tripped up in 
the pronunciation of the word " statis- 
tics," for though full of forceful talk, he 
was no scholar. At this one of our party — there are fools in all 
crowds — mtmmicked him, with an added laugh. I thought the 
fniner wocid have knocked him down ; but he restrained him- 
self and went on with his talk. Just then a " kodak fiend" came 
up and set his trap for the quartette, when dog and all com- 
menced to scatter; but the artist used conciliatory language, 
promising to send the men pictures — the dog giving the consent 
of silence — and got his affirmative negatives. By the way how 
many " snaps" were got that way by our folks ; asking for ad- 
dresses of victims and guaranteeing them pictures by return 
mail. But about the rest of that arguement ? Well, trains don't 
wait for the conclusion of way-side discussions; the passengers 
hastened from their dubious coffee, cheese sandwiches and argu- 
ments pro and con on the subjects of gold, silver and monopo- 
lies and we soon lef): Minturn and its unsympathetic people far 
behind. 



FKOM THE CAR 
WINDOW. 



48 OVER THE ROCKIES. 

We were now rapidly descending the Pacific slope. Forty 
miles through the Eagle and Grand Canyons ; deep, tortuous 
cleavings of the western skirts of the Rocky Mountains. The 
river is close to the track. You wonder how the obstructions 
will be passed when rolling over a bridge or through a tunnel 
we see our way clear. The Grand River with the Green forms 
the Colorado, which some miles below ploughs a canyon in 
which might be buried the Yosemite Valley till the Big Trees 
would look like weeds. An abysmal wonder is the Canyon of 
the Grand, zigzagging from side to side, by the verge of seeth- 
ing rushing water, until you wonder what the outcome will be. 
Almost perfect lines of masonry, bastions and towers ; side by 
side, or range above range of sharp-cleft lines of cut stone-work 
divide our attention from the dizzy heights above them or the 
swirling stream below. At length we come from darkness to 
light and the eye is greeted with a pamorama of variegated 
colored rock-facings — red, green and yellow predominating ; to 
darkness again as we shoot through a tunnel, then light again, 
when the Springs of Glen wood show themselves, steaming with 
sulphurous heat. 

Here is a fine hotel called the Colorado ; built by the ex- 
cursionist, Raymond. The red stone of its walls, from nearby 
quarries, are consistent with its name, and are contrasted with 
white trimmings, but in greater contrast was the original struc- 
ture, before the railroad came, whose rough lumber was packed 
by donkeys over the mountain, with the present architectural 
wonder of the canyon. The health-giving sulphur springs are 
a great attraction to invalids, their temperature varying from 40 
to 140 degrees. The immense swimming pool 600 feet long» 
no feet wide and with a depth of 4 feet; of a suitable warmth 
and gamey with odor was an object of interest. It is fed from a 
hot spring that runs 2,500,000 gallons daily. The steaming 
pool, the adjacent vapor cave, the high mountains abruptly ris* 



CALIFORNIA REVISITED. 




OIA'I'O.V OF TfiK 



5a OVEK THE ROCKIES, 

ing, the many attractions about the grounds, fioral and artificial^ 
puzzle the mind and make you wonder and admire. 

Rich and poor in search of health con>e here from afar. 
Among the patients was a man stiff with rheumatism who, with 
the trust of a faith curist, was making himself believe his joints 
were loosening. Scant of means he had saved enough money 
to try these waters, and his painful efforts to appear better, and 
bis words full of hope made him a symbol of Pathos. 

As was the custom, when there was a possible chance to ad- 
vance their objects and to show that they were not Christian 
Endeavorers merely in name, our people held an open air meet- 
ing after dinner at the ** Colorado" — a meal, by the way, so ap- 
petizing that, when the same was over, we felt that while miles 
back we had scefi the Royal Gorge we now had had one ; in fact 
were made so forgetful of the many misconnections at past eat- 
ing stations, that we experienced a contentment, a continuous 
feast itself according to the old adage, which brought oblivion 
to the poverty prevailing about us in the silver camps. Several 
citizens of the town and mining regions thereabouts fringed our 
unusual gathering but truth compels mc to say they were not 
obtrusive in taking part in the services. Mingling among these 
were our friends '* Alkali Ike," *' Broncho Bill" and perhaps 
** Sage Brush Pete" — not having an introduction I can't say 
positively — big of hat ; bulgy of hip-pocket and profusive of 
straddlint^ swagger. But we should not be too critical. Our 
Pilgrim Fathers attended religious gatherings with large " guns," 
— here a pistol is a gun — and head gear fully as prominent, and 
passed unscathed by local censors. There, however, the com- 
parison ends. The most hopeful optimist would not call the 
average Rocky-mountaineer a reverent person. That he keeps 
his hat on, even during prayer, smokes his pipe and indulges in 
a running conversation during services, goes wMthout saying. 
While naturally brave on this occasion he showed a timidity 
that kept him seporated from the crowd, as if fearful of being 



CALIFORNIA ".EVISITED, 5 I 

called on for Iiis "experience." I would like to apply the lines, 
" The braresl an the tenderest — 




r^llrp 



but concientiously I cannot. They were perhaps brave and 
daring, but as to being loving and tender, at least toward us, 
ihey were not. These Isaacs, Williams and Peters, to Christian- 



52 OVER THE ROCKfES. 

ize their names, seemed to think themselves another race of be- 
ings from ourselves ; at least on another plane, to judge them by 
their views on virtue and religion, for the practice of these and 
hypocrisy were synonymous in their peculiar view of society. 

The day of our stopping at Glenwood was the National holi- 
day, and after our religious services it was celebrated in speech 
and song ; but William J. Bryan had been abroad lately ; the 
usual object lessons were in sight — Pullman cars; well-dressed 
Eastern men and women, products of the system which was im- 
poverishing the West ; non-paying silver mines ; a mammoth, 
|l3SO,cxx> hotel, supported by the rich, and a millionaires sum- 
mer resort looking down supercilliously from a mountain height ; 
so the Fourth of July fell flat, outside the excursionists. Instead 
of being welcomed among them as disseminators of money as 
well as religion our purple and orange colors seemed to have 
the same effect on the people of the silver regions that a red flag 
has on the horned monarch of a *' Plaza del Toro," and those 
wearing them as getting the benefits of a monetary system 
which was grinding them to the earth whose silver they could 
not afford to dig. I told one of these that the remedy was in 
mining gold instead of silver and that the Tariff would righten 
matters both East and West, but the words fell on unwilling 
ears. With logic which no arguments would satisfy he spoke 
as did the man at Minturn. *' Our mines are of silver; neces- 
sarily the absence of cheap coal and the high wages we are 
obliged to pay precludes competitive manufacturing; our in- 
terests are not identical. Give us free silver coinage ; then our 
mines will start up ; we will be able to buy your products and 
we will all, from California to Maine, be happy." But the com- 
fort is that Time, the great healer, will make everything right 
with our mountain friends — for they are not our enemies wil- 
fully, or all "Alkali Ikes," but the bulk of them honest in their 
convictions. The introduction of the school house; the Sab- 
bath school and its follower, the Church, will soften and elevate 



CALIFORNIA REVISITED. 53 

their views on religion, and a few years of National prosperity 
with the substitution of gold for silver mining, when prac- 
ticable, and other industries, when not, will so modify their 
feelings towards us of the East that we will be the same homo- 
geneous people of a generation ago. 

Again on our way we debouched from the Canyon of the 
Grand, when we passed over a desert country ; although there 
was pasture for stock on the river bottoms. At one station, 
where we laid over, we were shown specimens of good horse- 
manship by the cow-boys who had come in to gather some 
nickels, which amused and interested us; racing, lassoing, 
picking up objects on the run, &c. At a cattle and mining town 
called De Beque the citizens claimed to have a II7000 school 
house, and they seemed to be prosperous. Irrigation had made 
the desert bloom around this odd named town. Peaches, grapes, 
apricots, pears and all kinds of small fruit have taken the place 
of sage-brush, grease-wood and cactus. Early morning showed 
we had left the valley of Grand River, which by mountain and 
desert we had followed so long. We were now passing over 
long reaches of sand with isolated mountains in the far distance. 
For a hundred miles we did not see a stream of water ; but with 
artesian wells that did not matter. Back at Grand Junction I 
was shown what irrigation would do on the desert. Fruit of all 
kinds abounded here at this Oasis. When the season is at its 
height they have an annual festival or fiesta called "Peach Day.** 
The choicest of fruits are brought in to the town, literary ex- 
ercises are held, and the wind up is a grand Tournament, when 
Cow-boys are the Knights and bucking-bronchos and fractious 
steers the material whereby they show their prowess and make 
a desert holiday. "Fair ladies," they say, are not wanting to 
award the prizes ; but they seemed to be in hiding when we 
passed through the place. 

It is hard to find any one for track hands on these sun-burned 
plains but Chinamen and Indians ; the hardy natives of Sunny 



54 OVER THE ROCKIES. 

Italy, even, fight them shy. Stations were far apart and the peo- 
ple around them few. A sight at one of these, where we halted, 
was a gibbering idiot with his teasing companions ; a scene fit- 
ting to the repulsive surroundings. Wind mills and tanks are 
the necessities of these stations for watering the engines and 
little gardens. The saloon, also, seemed a necessary adjunct. 
One ol these, with fine irony, was called "The Oasis." 

From the bridge over Green River can be seen, fifty miles 
away, the start of the Canyon of the Colorado, just below the 
coming together of the Green and Grand. At a bright spot on 
the desert, called Helper, we got our breakfast. The usual rush 
and forgetfulness of the amenities of polite education and the 
feed was over. Experience had taught us how to make ready 
for the choice end of the first table at these wayside feasts. V 
have told the reader before my views of the easy-descent in con — 
nection with the slide from a civilized life to barbarism. W^* 
were all guilty so I am not invidious. 

An occasional group of charcoal ovens, looking like a smal » 
Hottentot village, and now and then a sorry looking set of ranch^ 
buildings appeared along the route. At Castle Gate, a minin^^ 
town, "cabined, cribbed, confined" by the walls of a narrov^^ 
canyon leading to the valleys of Utah, are coal mines and cok^ 
ovens, the output of which goes as far as San Francisco. Th^ 
coal is worked from the foot of a mountain ; a vein three tc^ 
eight feet thick following the slope to the summit. It is a dry^ 
mine, and to prevent fire-damp water must be continually spray- 
ed through it. For this, the fans, and working the cars a six — 
hundred horse engine is used. The "slack" is made into coke,^ 
while the lump coal is shipped. 

Our people were curious, and being in Utah were hunting 
Mormons, and when one was found the impolite question 
was propounded to them, "How many wives have you?*' 



CALIFORNIA KEVISITED. 5S 

*hcy might have answered, Yankee fashion, " How many had 
Solomon, Abraham, Isaac and Jacob?" but they did not want 
*o be discourteous to strangers; they had us on that, however- 
l^'any of the miners were of the Latter D.iy Saints, as they pre- 




CASTLE GATE. UTAH. 



••"■ oemg called, but polygamy is not openly pr,ictLced, Throueh 
C-astle Gate we passed where sandstone columns. 500 foet hign, , 
♦">*e in grand suggest! veness, and over Soldier Summit, and 



S6 OVER THE ROCKIES. 

then descended to the Utah Valley. I was now again ap- 
proaching ground previously traversed and the towns ahead had 
a familiar sound. The names of Spanish Fork, Springville, 
Provo, Battle Creek and Lehi were as echoes from the past. The 
first, on the stream we were traveling, was left to one side ; the 
others we passed through. Springville, as was also Lehi, in 
1858, was a walled town. At night the cattle from the neigh- 
boring farms were gathered within their walls, the gates were 
closed and with watchmen on guard all was safe from the prowl- 
ing Indian. These walls were made of tempered clay ; tamped 
between shifting frames the required distance apart and height 
and left to dry. I saw some twelve feet high when here befofe 
that had stood ten years, and all lasted till their need was over. 
The houses were built of adobe bricks, sun-dried, four inches 
thick and ten by twenty in other dimensions and at the end of 
fifty years were as durable as ever. All that is required is roof 
protection in this climate. Some houses had been painted and 
plastered, but otherwise I saw but little change. The water 
running along the streets, giving life to shade trees and gardens, 
with the low, gray houses at regular intervals took me back to 
the time when after months of mountain and desert travel they 
seemed so fair and home-like. A short distance up the 
valley we saw the gleaming waters of Utah Lake, and its sight 
recalled the time when, emerging from the dark recesses of 
Provo Canyon, it came upon our sight from its setting of desert 
and reclaimed farm land, with low lying mountains in the back- 
ground. In my whole journey, thus far, the stretch from Provo 
to Salt Lake City gave me the first opportunity of directly fol- 
lowing the old trail. The villages we sped by, or occasionally 
stopped at were invariably those our ox-train crept by in the 
long ago, and where we traded ox-chains for pies and vege- 
tables ; luxuries we had not seen for months on the shores oi 
the Missouri, and I recall the change of heart that was upon us 
on nearing the end of our toilsome journey. At Battle Creek 



CALIFORNIA REVISITED. 57 

was where I had my first " set-by" dinner, which, being unblest 
with money, I bought with an old gun barrel picked up on the 
Plains. The rye coffee and tough-crusted, unsweetened pump- 
kin pie I call to mind, but I had been farcing on worse ; besides 
I was sitting on a chair with my knees under a table and was 
surrounded by father, mother and children. The former said a 
devout grace before meal, and showed a thriftiness in taking a 
quid of tobacco from his mouth for future reference that be- 
tokened a competence for his old age. I was disappointed in 
seeing but one wife ; but so it was. One cannot have every- 
thing. 

The last town we passed through, before entering Salt Lake 
Valley was Lehi, a name taken from the Mormon Scriptures. 
Forty years ago it was surrounded by a substantial wall. I 
recollect the gates were narrow. It was night when we passed 
through them and I recall how fearful I was my six-yoke team 
might veer so much from their course as to enact the role of 
Samson at Gaza. But we went through safely, as did the other 
forty-nine wagons. The unusual sight of rows of lighted houses 
and staring citizens was impressive. 

The " oldest settler ; the most ancient Mason and the left-over 
from the war of 1812 are often envied for their prominence ; 
but I think, unless childish, they feel heart-sick in their isola- 
tion and long to exchange it for the young life of any of the 
gaping crowd around them, and deem a lion in his decadence a 
poor comparison to a thriving dog. When the town anniver- 
sary, the Lodge celebration, and the Fourth of July festivities 
are over the old fellow who punctuated them with his presence 
and more or less senile remarks goes home unnoticed, sick and 
sorry, and thinking of the long ago when he envied some 
Revolutionary relic or ** Hero of the French War " on similar 
occasions. In my present overland journey I saw no one on 
the train who had gone before in the primitive way I had 



jS OVER THE ROCKIES. 

traveled, so I was in a position to give points on localities and 
draw comparisons which attracted attention. But as long ex- 
perience involved corresponding age I could not help com- 
promising myself with the above " old-timers" and it gave me a 
sad, isolated feeling. 

The trees planted around the Mormon homes made the scen- 
ery pleasant. Sometimes long rows of them extended along 
the fields as " wind-breaks." They were principally of Box- 




" THROUGH THE STREETS OF LFHI IN '58." 

alder, Cotton-wood and Poplar, the las! like " Lombardies" of a 
past generation ; Ihe limbs shooting up perpendicularly in long, 
slender branches. The orchards were of little note on my first 
visit, but now were common and yielding well under irrigation. 

After passing Lehi our train — the steam train — came to the 
Jordan River which we followed down to Salt Lake, at varying 



CALIFORNIA REVISITED. 59 

distances from its shores. This was once called " Utah Outlet/' 
but connecting bodies of water so similar to Gallilee and the 
Dead Sea gave the Mormons, with their religious imagery, a 
cause to so name it. Near Lehi our ox-trains crossed the river 
to Camp Floyd, thirty miles west, and after unloading we re- 
turned and recrossed the Jordan lower, and went to Salt Lake 
where we disbanded. The train passed rapidly north by the 
banks of the brawling outlet, and at 6 o'clock, on the 5th of July, 
we reached the city. 



>^J^ 



IV. 



ground Salt Iialge. 




Oh, Land of fresh and pickled lakes — 

Of deserts and oases — 
Where canyons dark and deep look out 

On blooming^, smiling^ places I 
Thoug^h socially, from out the past. 

Thou eren yet art tainted, 
We joy to know the evil one 

Is not as black as painted I 

HEN on my previous overland journey, I came 
in sufficient contact with the Mormons to know 
they were ignorant as a body and clannish 
and ready to follow their leaders when ordered. They 
showed this in their journeys West; in the abandonment 
of Salt Lake City on the troops approaching it and leav- 
ing their homes in far off San Bernardino, at the call of 
Brigham Young, to help defend the mountain passes of the 
Wahsatch from the Federal invasion. I also knew that poly- 
gamy ^as a blight upon them ; but as a class they were honest 
in their views, taking the examples of prominent characters in 
the Old Testament to justify themselves in what distinguished 
them from other Christian sects. That they were industrious 
was shown in the way they made the cold, desert soil of Utah 
bloom under irrigation. The character of the men I traveled 
with from Salt Lake to California favorably impressed me to- 
wards them. These were plain, honest fellows ; clear of drink- 

(60) 



CALIFORNIA REVISITED. 6l 

iffig: and the use of objectionable language and kind in their de- 
portment toward us. Of course they might have been Danites, 
or Destroying Angels, and been in the Alliterate Mountain 
Meadow Massacre, moreover, and had a dozen wives apiece at 
home ; but we did not know. Was it Kate Field who said 
** the way the Mormons differed from us was that they drove 
their wives side by side while we drove ours tandem ?" Any- 
how if she used the words she showed herself a genius. Now 
that they have abandoned plural wives, except as they cannot 
help themselves on account of ties formed before laws hostile 
were passed by Congress, and their main religious tenets are not 
more startling than those of some other sects among Christians> 
it becomes us to be more lenient towards them until they have 
time to work out their salvation. It is not much over two hun- 
dred years since Quakers were hung and Baptists banished by 
followers of the meek and lowly Jesus who have now become 
very different on the score of Charity towards those who differ 
from them, and why may not the Mormons change also? In 
giving us the use of their Tabernacle in which to hold the Chris- 
tian Endeavor rally they heaped a tolerable large shovel full of 
hot coals on our heads which we must be mindful of, and regret 
the disrespectful sotto-voce remarks which some of us used in 
the Mormon meeting that followed ours, when some of their 
leading men made known their beliefs. Possibly these Latter 
Day Saints showed themselves Up to Date Saints, also, when 
they led us in to this situation, but if it was a trap and we 
walked into it let us shoulder our part of the responsibility. 

In asking one of their ministers, named Stewart, at Ogden, the 
Mormon belief he said they held with most Christian .sects, ex- 
cept as to Revelation. That had ceased at the death of Christ, 
but there were so many interpretations of God's word that con- 
fusion followed and a new start must be made ; so the Lord 
sent his angel, Maroni, who appeared to Joseph Smith and com- 
manded that a new Dispensation should follow, whereby the 



62 AROUND SALT LAKE. 

good old System of Apostles, Bishops and Priests should be re- 
newed. So God laid his hand on his Prophet, and he on Brig* 
ham Young, who placed his on John Taylor and *he his on Wil- 
ford Woodruff, the present Lord's annointed, although Smith 
had laid his hand on Taylor as well as Young. Our questions 
were all answered in a confident, respectful way ; showing our 
interlocutor had a sincere spirit, if on the wrong spiritual track. 
A ship had just landed in New York with her jute cargo on 
fire, which for days the crew had tried to extinguish. There 
were fifty Mormon emmigrants on board, but they had not felt 
the least concern, for never had there a ship gone down with 
one of their faith on board, said Elder Stewart. I asked him if 
he thought that was so. ** Think it ? I know it, said he." ** The 
only time ill luck ever bcfel a Mormon ship was when the 
Arizona struck an ice-berg and shipped four hundred tons of 
water ; but God preserved them by sending along a vessel who 
took them and their belongings off safely. ** Their missionaries, 
1500 in number, are out all the time, and these are continually 
sending on converts to Utah, which is the place ordained by 
God as the resting place of the Latter Day Saints. I asked the 
Elder when the Mormons first showed themselves?" " In North 
and South America 1800 years ago." Who were they ? " You see 
a remnant around here. They have blankets on, and some of 
them carry pappooses on their backs." Sure enough there were 
some of these long-haired, untutored savages around the station- 
It is a fiction among the Saints that the lost tribes of Israel came 
to America and the Indians are their descendants — all being 
Mormons as were their progenitors. I asked him what claims 
the Mormons had on Utah when they resisted the government 
in 1858. He said before that territory was ceded by Mexico to 
the United States the Mormons held title to the part they occu- 
pied, and as they had paid for it they had a right to defend it 
by force of arms. The same of the San Bernardino tract. 
Polygamy was a dead issue. He neither practiced nor believed 



CALIFORNIA REVISITED. 63 

in it. There were several well dressed young men around— 
Mormons — and when occasion offered dipped in their conver- 
sational oars with vigor; as did several of our own people. 
Elder Stewart was a fine looking man of sixty ; without sign of 
gray in beard or hair, and with none of that demoraliied appear- 
ance we are prone to connect with Mormonism. His tongue 
was fluent and he had a ready reply to every Gentile argument 
An original Abolitionist, he was born in Chester County, Penn- 
sylvania, and was among the first emigrants to Kansas. He was 
one of John Brown's men in the troublous times there, and 
could give many memories of them. Outside his belief I could 
not help but have an admiration for this man and when I found 
he crossed the plains the same year as myself a sort of fraternal 
feeling came up between us. Mutual camps, trials and experi- 
ences, generally have that result among old plainsmen. Our 
long stop at Ogden was an event; but I must return to my ex* 
periences in Salt Lake City. 

As soon as we got ofT the cars we proceeded with our char- 
acteristic vim to ** The Tunnel/* an underground restaurant* 
from its darkness appropriately named, which our coupons said 
owed us a supper. It reminded me of the Roman Catacombs, 
or rather descriptions of them. Those were receptacles for 
early Christian Martyrs; this for late Christian Endeavorers. 
We had had our usual, of late, twenty-four hours fast and felt 
like adding martyrs to our long name, also, but immersed in our 
" feed " we forgot past troubles and comparisons. But the rush 
was something fearful to behold. After this I made the best 
use of my time while it was day to look up old land-marks. 
When I was last here Temple Square was simply enclosed by a 
twelve-foot high adobe wall. The Temple foundations had been 
commenced, but the work suspended on account of pending 
troubles. Now that tall, pinnacled realization of Young's dream 
pierces the air, with the angel, Maroni, perched on the topmost 
point, trumpet in hand, and facing the East, when he first inter- 



64 AROUND SALT LAKE. 

viewed the Prophet Smith. This building was forty years to 
completion and cost $3,000,000. The size is 180 by 120 feet 
and its height 210 feet. Its inner sanctuaries are open only to 
those who are high up in Church degrees. Just west is the 
Tabernacle, a building with a roof like a turtle's back, seating 
8000 people. Near by is the Assembly Hall ; the place of 
worship, proper. At the corner of the block surrounding, a 
curiosity in architecture, called the Eagle Gate, spans the street 
diagonally in two arches, surmounted by a spread-winged Bird 
of Freedom. From here, eastward, extends the buildings of the 
hierarchy, beginning with the printing office of the ** Deseret 
News" and ending with the ** Bee Hive House." Sandwiched 
between were the old " Perpetual Emigration Fund," Brigham 
Young's residence and store houses for manufactured goods. 
Some were open, showing dark, littered up rooms and were out 
of repair generally ; in great contrast to the private buildings, 
many of which are fine structures. They were bright and well 
kept forty years ago. They are adobe built and the " march of 
improvement" will soon level them to the ground. The buttres- 
sed wall built of cobble-stones, with clay for mortar, around the 
square is still in fair shape. These buildings, with their enclos- 
ure, were the most conspicuous features of Salt Lake on my 
first visit, but were now unnoticed by our tourists. 

There were three of Brigham Young's widows living. One 
of them was Margaret Pierce, who, when a little girl, moved 
from Chester county to Nauvoo with her father who had joined 
the Mormons. On growing up she was ** sealed" to Young, and 
remains true to his memory ; while Amelia, of fifty years, is get- 
ting ready for a second matrimonial venture. She lives in a neat 
house, all to herself. The other ex-wives also live seperate, 
Margaret gave several callers her autograph. The others were 
so annoyed by the ill-manners of the more curious of the tour- 
ists, who asked them what numbers they went by, how they 
got along together and other disrespectful questions that they 



CALIFORNIA REVISITED. 65 

turned their backs upon them. The grave of the many-wived 
Young is a square away from his old home, is fenced in, with 
•• B. Y.," in gilt letters on the gate. Several other graves, 
around this, which is the radiating point, mark with flat stones 
where lay his deceased relicts. Up to within a few years of his 
death Brigham lived in the " Bie Hive House;" but he died in 
the " Lion House ; ** embittered by the knowledge that so much 
of the power over his people had been taken away from him by 
the United States government. Let Brigham rest in peace. He 
had his faults but was a much belied man. While despotic and 
bigoted to a degree he accomplished much for the wellare of his 
people. He planned for them awake and asleep. The build- 
ings in Temple Square are the realizations of dreams Prophetic. 
The Tabernacle may be a subject for. architectural criticism, but 
the Temple is a grand realization of Young's Night Thoughts ! 

In an adjoining lot was an old deserted school house where 
his children attended and, all being brothers and sisters, the 
teSicher could not be accused of favoritism. In a tent close by 
two enterprising Mormon boys exhibited a carriage, owned by 
the Prophet, and which, in 1861, was drawn over the plains by 
oxen. It was not a drawing card now and enticed few visitors 
at five cents, although a bargain-counter reduction had been 
made from ten. 

I noticed the streams coursing along the gutters, solely for 
watering the trees and gardens. Before they were also used for 
house use, and there was a fine for the defilement of the water . 
even washing the hands therein meant a loss of five dollars. I 
was reminded of the time when on my first morning in Salt 
L'ake City I crawled from my open-air bed and thought to sig- 
nalize my arrival among civilized people by what is known now 
as a bath, but then as a wash of face and hands. I had hardly 
0iade a dip in the ice-cold water coursing along the curb when 
I heard the cry " Stranger ! That means five dollars if the con- 
stable sees you ! ** I wondered what would come next, when a 



66 AROUND SALT LAKE. 

morning wash would deBle a gutter and provoke a fine. It cer- 
tainly was not complimentary to me ! 

For general use a ;Ji, 500,000 water plant supplies the city. 

Sixty miles of trolley lines traversed the streets, when forty 
years ago I did not remember seeing a carriage, and coal is ex- 
ported where wood for winter use was hauled many miles from 
the mountain canyons with oxen. The power for running the 
cars and lightning the city comes from large reservoirs in rifts 
of the Wahsatch range. Then I did not see a steam engine ; 
now a part of the city was black with furnace-smoke. The 
streets on which were scattered one-story adobe houses are 
paved with asphaltum and solidly built up ; although, to show 
the contrast, we see many of the picturesque, gray homes of the 
old settlers yet standing in the suburbs, with their orchards and 
gardens surrounding them. The then lonely, silent shores of 
Salt Lake now echo with thousands of human voices, at the bath- 
ing places of Saltair and Garfield Beach, and are jarred by 
rumble of trolley cars, or clang of gongs as the excursionists 
go and come. 

The Tabernacle is a curious looking building. When Brig- 
ham dreamed its plan he must have had a just previous heavy 
supper of terrapin, from the shape of the root Its oval ca- 
pacity of 250 by 150 feet had been filled in the afternoon by an 
Endeavor *' Rally ; " at the regular Sabbath service of the Mor- 
mons in the evening it was jammed with humanity. With 10,- 
000 to 12,000 excursionists in the city this can be easily ac- 
counted for. There were twenty, large double-doors, all 
guarded by policemen ; and here the crowd surged in efforts to 
enter, while others suffering from the heat within tried to get 
out. I was late getting there, so failed to see the opening ex- 
ercises; but the prayer, I was told, was such as is heard in other 
Christian Churches ; the recognition of Jesus Christ as the Son 
of God and Saviour of mankind included. The choir of five 
hundred voices was singing, and as this was accompanied by 



CAUPORNIA REVISITED. 67 

the Great Organ its effects can be imagined. This musical 
wonder is thirty by thirty-three feet in depth and width, and 
forty-eight feet high, with sixty-seven stops, three key . boards, 
and two thousand six hundred pipes, from thrce-fburtHs of aa 




inch to thirty-two feet high. No wonder the Tabernacle roof is 
hump-backed from the rise of sound-volume from such a 
monster. After the choral opening there were addresses by 
£lders Cannon and Penrose well fitted for the large percentage 
of Gentiles in the audience. The dead past was allowed to bury 



6S AROUND SALT LAKE. 

its dead; so no allusions were made to bygone unpleasantness; 
in reference to charity and forbearance they hewed to the line, 
let the coals of fire fall where they might. I have alluded to the 
Mormon belief as to the continuance of Revelation, but it was 
farther elaborated here. The iSth and 19th verses of the last 
chapter of the Book of that name on a superficial glance mili- 
tates against that view, but these Latter-Day expounders claim 
that " not man but God added unto these things" by appearing 
unto Joseph Smith through the angel, Maroni, and ordering the 
additions to Revelation in his own name. A short synopsis in 
the Mormon faith is a belief in the Trinity ; that through the 
Blood of Christ all men may be saved ; that mankind will be 
punished for its own sins only, and not for what was done by 
Adam six thousand years ago ; that their ministers must be 
•' called of God by prophecy and the laying on of hands" to 
preach the Gospel ; that the same organizations which existed 
in the primitive Church, such as Apostles, Prophets, &c., should 
be in *• these latter days;" that the Bible is the Word of God " as 
it is correctly translated" and that the Book of Mormon is also 
the Word of God. They also believe all that the Lord has re- 
vealed and what He now reveals and that He will yet reveal 
more ; also that the Ten Tribes will be restored and that there 
will be a second advent of Christ who will personally reign on 
earth. 

They believe in the Resurrection of the Dead and Eternal 
Judgement ; that as death is universal so will be the raising of 
the bodies. Jesus holds the keys, and when He will come into 
His Kingdom He will call forth his Saints from the earth and 
their bodies shall be tangible, though spiritual. 

After one thousand years the rest of the dead will arise. The 
just who knew not Christ will come first : then will come the 
unjust. All will be judged mercifully, but justly and rewarded 
or punished according to their merits. The glory of the sun, 
moon and stars, as they take precedence, will be symbols of the 



CALIFORNIA REVISITED. 69 

futures of mortals who have known Christ or who have acted 
justly without knowing Him. The Sons of Darkness, which, of 
course, has particular reference to those who have persecuted 
the righteous, shall inherit no glory, ** but go out with the devil 
and his angels into outer darkness, and sufTer the second death." 
The general line of their belief does not seem so out of the way 
thus far. It might be called Orthodox. 

With the marriage rules connected with their religion there 
are some interesting points. A wife, when " sealed" to her hus- 
band, is his now and forever. Should she die he can wed an<^ 
other. Should fate, more or less kind, give him the third wife at 
the resurrection he would have three wives, which, with their 
children would form one family, " and would be suitable com* 
pany for Abraham, Isaac and Jacob and other ancient worthies 
in the heavenly kingdom/' If the husband should die with a 
wife behind him, and she should marry, it would be for time, 
only, and in the resurrection she would take her place with her 
original husband. The children of her second venture would go 
with her. 

But the Mormon belief in the marriage relation does not stop 
here. They argue if one raised from the dead with a glorified 
body has a right to more than one wife so has a man on this 
earth. Revelation declares the first condition to exist and logi- 
cally sanctions the second. With belief in what the angel. Ma- 
roni, brought to Joseph Smith everything follows. But one of 
the articles of faith declares " obedience to temporal laws'* and 
since the passage of the Edmunds bill polygamy is illegal ; so 
at a full conference of the Church it was decided that a plurality 
of wives would no longer be allowed — in Utah. In Colorado 
and Nevada, where there are Mormons and no antagonistic 
State laws, that is another matter, and there they can follow the 
the example "of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob and other ancient 
worthies." 



70 AROUND SALT LAKE, 

One of the peculiarities of this pecuh'ar reh'gion is its progres- 
siveness, and that not only is revelation continuous but that it is 
subject to startling innovations, as in the past The introduc- 
tion of polygamy was one and this was followed by the " bap- 
tism of the dead" and the reconcilliation of those who were at 
enmity in this world after their emigration to the next. These 
have come through the Presidents, as policy or whim dictated. 
The baptism of the dead is of course done vicariously. There 
living friends may therefore be immersed for them and the record 
be made on earth and ratified in heaven ; of course the belief 
and repentance of the dead must be in some way satisfactory* 
The union by proxy in this world of those who are supposed to 
be discordant in the one following is even assured. 

Want of space prevents me from continuing these oddities of 
religious belief farther. To attain a certain amount of consist- 
ency fresh absurdities are added, till things are woefully mixed 
up. I will stop short by saying that when the Mormans differ 
from other Christians their religion is absurd rather than 
criminal, according to their explanation. 

In regard to the personal appearance of the Mormons I will 
not go so far as some of my Endeavorer friends who could spot 
a Latter Day Saint on sight by his brutalized features, the fe- 
male of his species by her care-worn, submissive air, and their 
children by their precociousness. As far as my observation 
went they compared favorably with other Christian denomina- 
tions. The consistencies require a different expression of 
opinion, but that cannot be helped ; I am here to state facts. 
Who expects to see faces dehumanized by impure living, and 
uncouth dress and manners prevailing will be disappointed. A 
look at the five hundred faces of the young men and women 
composing the Tabernacle choir, and the leading members of the 
church, with their attire and deportment, would disabuse an un- 
prejudiced person of that belief 



CALIFORNIA REVISITED. 71 

Apropos of this I recall a recent occurrence at a class exami- 
nation at an Eastern college. From student to student a com- 
plex question went unsolved until one, on the farther side of the 
hall arose and answered it. He was the son of Brigham Young J 
These things ought not to be. 

The following clipping would show that the Mormon Church 
is anything but a dying one, although it is rather discouraging 
reading for Gentiles: ** The Mormons are very active and ener- 
getic, and they still seem disposed to take part in politics, as a 
Church. Statistics presented at the last general conference of 
the Church represented that the increase in membership, through 
baptism of children who have reached the age of eight years, 
and of adult converts in Utah, Idaho, Canada, Colorado, Wy- 
oming, and Arizona has been larger than during any year in the 
Church's history. Outside the Rocky Mountain region the 
Mormon Church has received more accessions than in any two 
years previously. The greatest comparative increase has been 
in New England, in States east of the Missouri river, north of 
the Ohio, and in Oregon and California. In foreign lands and 
other parts of the United States than the Mormon region, there 
are about 1400 missionaries at work, mostly young or middle- 
aged men, all of whom travel without salary or allowance from 
the Church, for the Church permits no minister to receive a 
salary, but only to rely on the hospitality of the people." 

Among the great number of excursionists were numerous 
crooks who had followed them for plunder. During services 
in the Tabernacle several thefts occured, as shown by the ejacu- 
lations of the victims ; while at night there were robberies in the 
streets ; in many cases, according to next day's papers, the vic- 
tims losing money and tickets; a bad predicament in this far off 
land. One man lost five hundred dollars. I had a little ex- 
perience of my own. Late at night while going up the steps of 
my car I was followed by three men whom I thought, in the 
darkness, belonged with us. As I reached for the door-knob 



J2 AROUND SALT LAKE. 

they commenced to jostle, and suspecting from the small num- 
ber there was no occasion for that I instinctively reached for my 
pocket-book, which I found pulled out and ready to drop. At 
this they all ran ; being scared by some outside happening. As 
my purse necessarily contained more or less of what is known as 
the root of all evil, besides my railroad ticket, I experienced, not 
exactly the weary feeling, so often alluded to, but something the 
reverse, and akin to very lively emotions. 

The next day, July 6th, after another look at the half ruined 
remnants of old adobe buildings, which had been tithing offices 
and store houses for Church goods, we took a trolley ride to 
Salt Lake, twenty miles away. The bath houses, pavillions, 
salt works and the disagreeable odors from the marshes along 
the borders of the Lake are my chief memories of that excur- 
sion. Huge piles of salt, made by evaporation, naturally and 
artificially, showed that the dense waters of this American Dead 
Sea are turned to account. We returned by 2 o'clock and in 
an hour were on board the cars and on our way to California. 
Much of our route was in sight of the Lake, and passing scat- 
tered ranch buildings with trees around them and lining the 
fields soon reached Ogden where we got supper. The hotel 
was a fine one and our dining-room was on the sixth floor; 
quite a change from our last subterranean restaurant; the 
*' Tunnel." The view from this was extensive in the Lake direc- 
tion. Ogden is a progressive city of twenty thousand people, 
with water works, electric lights and trolley cars. Reservoirs 
at high elevations furnish the power. Marvelous stories were 
told by the farmers we saw of the yield of crops around here ; 
wheat 50 to 60 bushels per acre ; potatoes 700 and alfalfa three 
tons to the acre, three times a year. This was, of course, from 
irrigation. Horses sold at ;J20 a piece ; cows ^25, and sheep 

The gleaming waters of Salt Lake were plainly visible much 
of our way after leaving Ogden, and we only lost sight of them 



CAUFORNIA REVISITED. 73 

as darkness closed around us. Morning found us in a sterile 
country. We stopped for breakfast at a sun -scorched town, 
called Terrace. I was much interested in two tramps we found 
here, who had beaten their way thus far on the trucks of pas- 
senger cars ; jumping on and off while they slowed up or 
started. They were disgusted with California and were going 
in this style to the East. One of them was intelligent, said he 
had clerked in a post office for three years, which might have 
been a lie or might not. He was now " on the bum." The 
views of the hoboes on society are interesting. Reasoning on 
different planes, argument is wasted on the intelligent among 
them ; for there are such. This one seemed to think the world 
in debt to him, so would rather steal than beg ; what was not 
given to him willingly he would take. However, when he got 
home in Wisconsin he would lead a new life. His father had 
died and from the estate he would get some ** beans," when he 
would settle down. I saw he was hungry and went to the 
restaurant and got him something to eat ; telling him to give 
some to his " pard," who had sauntered away, when he came 
back. Seeing sometime afterward he had not touched it, I 
thought there was some good in him, not jolted out by his 
rough ride, and told him to eat his grub and I would get him 
more for his friend. He preferred waiting, however, and when 
I came back the other hobo was there, and they both had their 
fill. I don't know that the bread cast on the waters at Terrace 
will ever return, but I think I so wrought on my man's feelings, 
from the emotion he showed, that something good may come 
out of the affair. He certainly had nothing to gain by making 
pretense, for he had asked no favors. 

Around Terrace is a desert in reality ; a fact, which no 
glamour of land agent or railroad dead-head can hide. There 
are no running streams, and artesian wells and wind-mills are 



74 AROUND SALT LAKE. 

necessary for the growth of the scant trees and vegetation 
about here. In all directions spread plains of sand, sprinkled 
with grease-wood ; while in the far distance arose barren moun- 
tains. 





Galifsrnia Revisited. 



Salt Ixal^e io San j^Fan^if^o. 

V. 

The panting osEen toiled along 
With head bowed down and lolling tongue ; 
Beside the wild-eyed driver cursed — 
Raved of cool springs and died athirst. 

Now on this trail the Pullnoan flies ; 
The sated tourist yawns and sighs 
For softer bed and better wine 
And wishes it were time to dine. 

^FTER a tedious wait at Terrace the detaining trains 
got out of our way and we rolled on. At another 
desert station in Tecoma, Nevada, we suffered ad- 
ditional delay. There are rich copper mines in the adjacent 
mountains and this is a shipping point for the crushed ore which 
is put in sacks and shipped to the smelting works at Salt Lake, 
It is a dismal place to wait, as there are no shade trees except 
some scrubby cotton-woods ; the sun hot and the sand glaring ; 
but it was an interesting place for all, for when the surroundings 
lacked interest we had it in our power sometimes to furnish it. 
The foremost among our Endeavorers were always ready to do 
good, and, thinking a nearby saloon a good point to operate on, 

(75) 




^6 SALT LAKE TO SAN FRANCISCO. 

concluded to hold services under the shade of its porch. A 
few women and children and four or five cowboys composed, 
outside ourselves, the audience. The cowboys are here called 
•* buckaroos ;" a corruption of the Spanish word "vaqueros ;" as 
" calf-yard" is of "caballado*' — the loose cattle of a train, and 
*' avalanche'' of ambulance. 

A tough looking " buckaroo/' with a whiskey breath and a 
pistol, or " gun," as they here call it, swinging at his hip, was 
swaggering around the porch. When his religious condition 
was enquired into, he said he read his Bible, said his prayers 
and could sing a hymn when occasion called for the same. His 
profession, however, did not hinder "Whiskey Bill " from con- 
tinually urging his brother cowboys to come in and " take 
something," even while our services were going on. These 
went in without coaxing, except one, who really appeared af- 
fected by the pleadings of one of our ministers, who amid the 
song service clung to him. Coming out of the saloon "Whiskey 
Bill " joined in the hymns with rude swinging of his arms, the 
other " buckaroos," with the barkeeper at their head breaking in 
with noisy irreverence. A character in the scene was a tall 
cowboy, called " Texas Jack," who was hiring out a gray 
broncho for enthusiastic passengers to ride, and who mingled 
with us when idle. He was a fine specimen of manhood, and 
dressed in the typical style of his tribe. One of our proselyting 
ladies, seeing his indifferent, or hostile attitude tried to work on 
his ieelings. He was cooly respectful, but the lady's importuni- 
ties at last stirred him up to the question, " Do you believe in 
the justice of God?" "Of course I do, and so do you/' said 
she. Then said the Texan, " There have been several accidents 
to you people on your way here ; some of them fatal ; now do 
you believe a just God would allow this, especially to professing 
Christians on such a mission as yours, causing painful deaths 
and life-long helplessness to innocent persons ?" This answer 
was so Ingersollian that he was considered a hopeless case, and. 



CALIFORNIA REVISITED. 77 

like a tough conundrum, was given up. " Texas " had ridden 
down from his cattle-ranch, forty miles off in the mountains, and 
was hiring his gray out on five and ten minute rides to tender- 
Footed tourists who, without spurs or " quirts," got little speed 
out of their " mount." The Kodak man was about and got 
varying views of our handsome "vaquero," on his horse swing- 
ing his lasso; with a flaxen-haired little girl on his saddle, or 
throwing his coil on a brother cowboy. More exhilarating 
sport was wanted by our blaie travelers, and a sufficiency of 
nickels being produced. Jack called for a man to mount his 
broncho. Victims were as scarce as the boy to ride the trick 
mule at the circus, but Bill, with the whiskey adjective, was 
soon on hand. He had surrounded enough of Tecoma in- 
vigorator to limber him up, so he jumped on the gray, and with 
jingling spurs and flapping holster cavorted up and doivn the 
saloon front, with " Texas " making hits at every throw, and 
bringing him to a stop; sometimes lassoing him around the 
body, at others his horse by one or two feet. This, however, 
was disappointing sport for us, as Bill was not overthrown ; the 
broncho always meekly stopping as soon as the noose was felt. 
Then the ladies, always admirers of knightly valor, and wishing 
a memento of this specimen, kept him busy writing autographs. 
In the meantime the religious services were going on at the 
saloon, with the certainty of one of the " buckaroos" being visi-^ 
bly affected by the pleadings of his Endeavorer friends. 

In the kitchen of a nearby house was a Shoshone Indian, 
named " Rattlesnake Jim ;" why so viciously prefixed I don't 
know ; for if he bore it rightfully, he was certainly as mild a 
mannered son of the forest as ever took a scalp or cut a throat 
He was sitting stolidly on a soap-box, looking at the woman of 
the house washing dishes. He wore a buckskin shirt ; but de- 
stroyed the proprieties by wearing blue overalls and a straw 
hat ; making amends, however, by having his long locks done 
up in paper, as if preparing lor a party— a scalping party, say. 



78 SALT LAKE TO SAN FRANCISCO. 

He had the unmistakable features I looked upon of old ; stolid 
and inscrutable, and his toes turned in ; the cowboys looked at 
him as if they would rather see them turned up. Another fea- 
ture of our Tecoma halt was an "outfit" on the road from Elko, 
on the Humboldt, to Ogden 275 miles away. There were two 
horses, an uncovered wagon and two men ; one the owner of 
the team ; the other one of these charity passengers, always on 
hand to impose on good nature, and a victim of laziness and 
drink. Following the line of the railroad gave these travelers a 
chance for water at the stations which the old trail did not • 
but it was a dismal journey from sand and sun. Before they 
started the Kodak fellows fired some parting shots at the pic- 
turesque sight; of course, taking the driver's address as an evi- 
dence of good faith. Seated in their open wagons they finally 
left us ; amid glaring sun-beams and rising dust, and were lost 
to view. 

Back of the seething station were some sun baked buildings 
where Chinese lived. A " dug-out," a deep hole, with trap 
doors, to keep provisions cool, a common sight at the desert 
stations, was seen here. Near by was a corral whose fence was 
made by lashing round pickets to rails with raw-hide thongs. 
There were no animals about ; all being in teams hauling ore 
from the mines. ■ The fuel used around here was sage-brush, 
hauled to the village on hay-racks, and lay in ricks. In spite of 
the unpromising nature of the scene the school ma*am was 
abroad, for iii a weather-beaten building, with the shingles and 
weatherboards curling up their edges in varied lines of beauty 
the callow children of Tecoma were being taught to the num- 
ber of a dozen, although school was now out. The style of 
teacher who could stand it here I would like to know. The 
white, sandy plain and treeless mountains, with the animal king- 
dom, represented by Chinese, Buckaroos, Rattle-snake Jims, 
bucking-bronchos, swearing teamsters and horned toads, would 
drive an average woman crazy in a week. Strange to say a wo- 



CALIFORNIA REVISITED. 79 

man telegrapher was content here. Still women volunteer to 
nurse in leper colonies and marry the queerest sort of men ! 

At last we left Tecoma ; but from heavy trains and grades we 
moved slowly. The track hands were Indians and Chinese, and 
were par-boiled like lobsters. White men won't work here. 
They will herd cattle, break horses, raise Cain at shooting frol- 
ics, and drink whiskey, but they won't labor on the Union 
Pacific. 

Here along the railroads they have sand fences as well as 
snow breaks. These are not made tight and upright, but open 
and aslant, like one sided chicken-coops, and propped. The sand 
is so light that the wind would loosen the posts, and the open 
work prevents drifting ; hence this innovation. Telegraph poles 
have cairns piled around them and at angles have long braces. 
The sand is in deep layers and so loose one can hardly mount 
the hills. 

Towards night we came to a station called Wells, a mining 
town of nine hundred people. This name is a contraction — 
Humboldt Wells being the full title in the old emigrant days. 
Here twenty or more circular openings are full of water and 
without a wave send their brackish water over a grassy desert 
oasis. This was a welcome spot and for a day or more early 
travelers refreshed themselves and hungry cattle for the further 
desert and mountain journey to California. A rare sight was 
here, a delegation of Sabbath school children neatly dressed and 
headed by their teachers meeting us — a spiritual oasis as con- 
trasting as the temporal one just noted. The superintendent 
was called for. He came forth and received both praise and en- 
couragement from our people as if he was serving the Lord un- 
der difficulties, and I think he was. A woman can get along in 
such work; she has more faith, a deeper sense of religion and ; . 

it is thought to come natural to her. With her the maxim " To # 

be good is to be happy" holds good; even at Humboldt Wells. ^ 



80 SALT LAlCE TO SAN PRAKClSCO. 

As for man, at the same place, it is to be miserable. In a 
sneering community where "Alkali Ike " and " Hairtrigger 
Hank" and their ilk hold sway he needs a brave heart, a record 
for courage and strength and a sure aim, as well as religious 
fervor, to *' hold the fort" Hence I had a feeling that after our 
departure our good young superintendent would hear from those 
of his fellows who deem a lay professor a PecksnifT and each 
minister a Reverend Mr. Stiggins, but I believe, although a little 
sensitive to our kindness, which was in danger of killing him, 
he will come out all right in the end towards redeeming his 
community from its incubus of irreligion. I cannot help but 
think, however, that though we were sometimes sneered at by 
the people of the mining towns and the uncovering the head at 
our way-side services was deemed an effeminacy inconsistent 
with true sage-brush and Alkali manhood, our passing through 
the country with religious worship among the people wherever 
practicable will not only strengthen the Christian workers but 
impress the irreligious so they will be a help instead of a hin-^ 
derance. 

A feature, having its rise perhaps in the times when graves 
were disturbed by wild beasts, was noticed at the Wells ceme* 
tery, where each mound was enclosed with a picket fence ; 
though this was common in the Mission grave-yards in Cali- 
fornia. 

Passing down the Humboldt on heavy grades we came to a 
large lake into which the river flows. This body of water is 
thirty miles long and ten wide. Its contents are farther con- 
ducted to Carson Lake, or Sink, where they are lost. 

At Wadsworth we got breakfast. Near here, at Pyramid 
Lake, into which the Truckee river flows, is an Indian Reserva- 
tion. In its schools are one hundred scholars, in charge of 
which is a brave hearted woman, willing to spend her time 
among these semi-human people. From specimens we saw 



CALIFORNIA REVISITED. 8 1 

around Wadsworth station their progress seems backwards. 
Several bucks, squaws and pappooses were clustered around 
here to gather in what nickels they could from the sale of In- 
dian goods, posing for camera folks, &c. I noticed one mother, 
who was allowing her child's picture taken, hiding her own 
with a blanket ; either through superstition, or that the Kodaker 
did not get too much for his money. They all had a stupid 
look ; even the grown up children, who had been long enough 
at school to learn English, did not seem able to answer simple 
questions intelligently. 

The smart natives had on exhibition, on the plane of the 
Cherry-colored Cat joke, a Red Bat. This bird-animal of the 
odd color was in a slatted, curtained box and with it was the 
"barker" and assistant, surrounded by a crowd of tourists, en- 
nuyed with a long wait and keen for something whereby to pass 
away the time. The loquacious exhibitor advertised his '*rara 
avis" as found up the wilds of the Chuck-a-luck canyon 
and by special arrangements on free admission to Christian En- 
deavorers, only. There was a dog also in the game and the 
assistant had much to do to keep him fiom breaking into the 
frail cage, while the ** barker" made show of the fierceness of 
his charge by thrusting his hand neath the curtain and redraw- 
ing it with cries of pain. Then a tender-foot was asked to take 
a free peep and see the crimson monster ; next a roar of laugh- 
ter ; then the victim was inducing another to look in and share 
his burden. An old buck. Captain Charlie by name, with 
wrinkles in his stoical face of a depth to plant potatoes in, and 
with signs of age denoting him too old a Piute to be caught 
with such bait was coaxed to look in, but his face afterward did 
not show a change. Then the assistant would feed the bat 
with cautious fingers, and carefully renail a loose slat, with 
" don't crowd the thing ; he is used to the fresh air of the 
mountains, don't hold the curtain up so long" — to the victim — 
•* you'll hurt his eyes." 



82 SALT LAKE TO SAN FRANCISCO. 

It was a Brick Bat ! Thus did the desert denizens guy the 
guileless children of the East ! 

Following up the Truckee river we start on the ascent of the 
Sierra Nevada. At the town of Truckee we are in the heart of 
a lumber district which would the current year cut 4,000,000 
feet of sawed-stuff, and keep the present mills going one hun- 
dred years ; so the natives say but it is doubtful. The logs 
are brought in water chutes, which on high trestles and through 
cuts and tunnels come from miles up the mountains. These 
flumes are V shaped and logs two feet in diameter are quickly 
run down them. Boats of a similar shape carry the employees 
down to the mills from the woods. At Truckee station we are 
but sixteen miles from that "Gem of the Sierras," Lake Tahoe. 

In making the Loop for the ascent of the mountains we round 
Donner Lake, made memorable by the awful fate of an emigrant 
party who left Missouri in the spring of 1846. They were a 
portion of a much larger one from whom they separated at the 
South Pass to take a "cut-off." This was a failure, and return- 
ing to the point of divergence were so delayed that they did 
not get to the passes of the Sierra Nevada until the 31st of Oc- 
tober, a month behind time. There were several women and 
children with the train and from cold and starvation they suf- 
fered greatly. Several heroic efforts were made from the farther 
side of the mountain to break through the deep snows, as word 
had gone on of the situation, but additional storms came on and 
the rescuing party returned unable to accomplish their mis- 
sion. At the same time the Donner party were doing their ut- 
most to get over the range ; two of the young men never being 
heard of afterwards. For six weeks the torments of cold and 
hunger possessed them, when eight men and five women, in 
desperation made another attempt. After a month's wanderings 
three of the men and the five women reached the settlements on 
the Sacramento ; the rest perished. The fate of those adven- 
turers was tragic. Halted by the snows they grew delirious ; 



CALIFORNIA REVISITED. 83 

exposed themselves and died. The living, abstaining from 
cannibalism to the last extremity, at last yielded and ate the 
dead, with one exception, the widow of one of the victims. 
That the five woinen got through safe is remarkable, and shows 
that the men were knightly and self-sacrificing. On the arrival 
of these at the settlements a relief party at once pushed forward 
to Donner Lake, where, in one of the cabins they found Keys- 
burg, the sole survivor. He was haggard and revolting ; hav- 
ing just finished gorging himself with human flesh ; portions of 
which was lying around, and was solaceing himself with a pipe. 
He had evidently added murder and robbery to his uncanny 
doings. 

Another group of dead bodies was found where the survivors 
were feasting in the same ghoulish way ; even members of the 
same family on one another. Lots had been cast, and prepara- 
tions made for continuing the dread work, but death came 
kindly to the aid of the wretched emigrants. 

There were eighty in the whole party, and thirty-five of these 
died. The rest after much suffering forced their way on or 
were rescued on the route. The remains were not buried until 
the next year. " Remains" was certainly the word ; for, from 
the descriptions given by the burial party, the scene resembled 
an " after the feast" on the Cannibal Islands. This is not pleas- 
ant reading, but I give it as one of the episodes of overland 
travel, fresh in the minds of Pacinc Coast people on my former 
journey. 

Slowly climbing the mountains we reach the ** horse shoe" 
and from the gained elevation have a fine view of Donner Lake, 
which we have been circling. Gleaming in the sunset it is a 
pleasant memory; but for thoughts of the scenes enacted around 
its shores fifty years ago. Nearing the summit we enter the 
snow sheds which for forty-eight miles hide the landscape ex- 
cept as loosened planks give glimpses of mountain and valley — 
the first crowned with green hemlocks ; the last sparkling with 



84 SALT LAKE TO SAN FRANCISCO. 

the Lake waters. Two engines take us near the summit, which 
a long tunnel leads us through and we swiftly descend the Sac- 
ramento Valley. With towering mountains, deep valleys, 
sparkling streams and high waterfalls our attention is continu- 
ally taken. The old emigrant trail which we have followed for 
two hundred and fifty miles, is now and then seen, and we 
wonder how the oxen, gaunt and sore-footed, with weeks of 
desert travel ever climbed such mountains. We pass towns 
whose names bring up tales of the Argonauts, and we recall 
"John Oakhurst," "The Fool of Five Forks," and "The Heiress 
of Red Dog," and others of Bret Harte's characters. While we 
are whirling down the grade, longitudingly over ridges, by 
precipices and through canyons freight trains with three engines 
tugging and pushing are slowly working upward. Our brake 
irons were so hot they smclled like heated axles, from the pres- 
sure applied to hold the train. At Gold Run we saw banks of 
red earth one hundred feet high where, by hydraulic mining, 
millions of cubic yards of gold bearing dirt had been washed 
at a profit, when the yield was less than a dollar a ton. Work 
had been stopped for some years, pending litigation, as the 
farmers along the Sacramento, seeing ruin before them from the 
ore-washings covering their rich river bottoms with sand and 
gravel during floods, so deep that the natural soil could not be 
reached with a plow, and in some cases the trunks of orchard- 
trees being half buried, had an injunction placed on mining 
operations. The miners were feeling bitter towards the farmers 
as they had been making money and thought they had prior 
rights to those below. They now were idle and their hydraulic 
plants and washers useless and deteriorating. But then the 
farmers had another story. 

Darkness came on us when we struck the Sacramento, so we 
saw nothing until we reached Oakland on the morning of July 
7, twenty-six hours behind time. We had crossed San Pablo 



CALIFORNIA REVISITED. 8$ 

Bay on the mammoth ferry-boat, Solano, without knowing it. 
A second ferriage at Oakland and I was on the familiar streets 
of San Francisco, after an absence of thirty-nine years. 



••-►>^J^ 




VI. 



j^Found San f^Fan^il^o. 




Oh, City of the many hills 1 

Of Wind and Vog and );Iaring Sun I 
I ^reet thee kindly since the years 

That time has made a two*score run. 
For natural action, each on each, 

Will neutralize thy triple ills ; 
And then I knr)w thy Cable«cars 

Will speedily non est thy hills. 

j)Y first arrival in San Francisco — Christmas Day, 
1858 — was after a six-months' journey over the 
Plains, full of hardships undreamed of in its in- 
ception. One would naturally think after this that my arrival, 
even as **a stranger in a strange land." would not cause my heart 
to rise throatward. But we are strangely, as well as wonder- 
fully made. I have known men of gentle natures, who would 
not harm the humblest creature, when turned into soldiers in 
our late war, so change from circumstantial surroundings that 
they did not fear death in any form, nor hesitate to take human 
life in the way of their dread trade, and this through the war's 
duration. I have known these same men, on returning to the 
walks of peace, to so fall back in their old ways as to take in- 
sults unrebuked from stay-at-homes, too cowardly to fight for 
their country. Thus I felt the same dread to enter this friend- 
less city as if I had never passed through my six-months* hard- 
ening. My second arrival was after four months of unpleasant 

(86) 



CALIFORNIA REVISITED. 87 

ranch-life. Then I was two weeks waiting for "steamer day," 
that I might go home. That period I spent in comparative idle- 
ness which I felt entitled to ; but I afterwards regretted I had 
not put my time to better use in seeing more of the city and its 
surroundings. This time I resolved to turn every day to ac- 
count during my stay in California and I assure my readers that 
of the twenty-six days I was in that State there was not a 
wasted one ; ''each counted lost that saw no action done.'* 

If attention had not been drawn to the matter most people 
would say San Francisco faced the ocean. It is the way coast 
cities have and the reply would be natural. Boston, New York, 
Philadelphia, Baltimore and Charlestown face the ocean ; San 
Francisco does not. Located on the eastern side of a point of 
land between the Bay and the broad waters stretching towards 
Asia it looks to the rising sun; a fact that should be omenous 
to its people, but I doubt if they ever thought of it. It is near 
the northern end of the peninsula, where the narrowing waters 
sweep westward to the Golden Gate. 

None of the trunk lines can reach the city dry-shod. From 
the East, North and South two ferriages are required for the 
former two, and one for the latter. The trains over the North- 
ern Pacific and Central Pacific come down the western shores 
of the Sacramento, cross an arm of the Bay, into which that 
river flows, on a huge ferry-boat and passing over the Contra 
Costa plains land the passengers on the end of a three-mile pier 
at Oakland, whence they are ferried six miles over the Bay to 
San Francisco. The trains from the southeast pass down the 
San Joaquin Valley and meeting the same railroad, where the 
other trains are ferried over, go on to Oakland ; but one ferriage 
being needed. When the road down the coast is finished these 
trains can land in the heart of the city as they do now from a 
point 300 miles south ; but the other roads must always supple- 
ment with ferriage. 

What is now a straight line on the San Francisco front was 



AttOUKD SAN FRANCISCO. 




CALIFOKMA REVISITED. 89 

originally indented with a deep cove, over which, in the most 
extended portion, are now six squares. This extended from 
Rincon Point South to Clarke's. In the early years of the 
city this, called Verba Buena — Good Herb — Cove, and where 
Dana and his shipmates beached their boats in 1 836 was the 
landing place for vessels drawing eight feet of water, at high 




VERBA BUENA COVE — I 847. 

tide. Afterwards the streets were extended by wooden wharves 
to a line from point to point. Between these were several ves- 
sels blown ashore in storms or deserted by their crews and 
these were left and gradually filled around with the gradings 
from the adjacent hills. At my first visit what is now solid land 
was wharves and buildings on piles; a dumping place for 



go AROUND SAN FRANCfSCO. 

trash of all kinds and excess earth in leveling lots, with the 
tides rising and falling; gurgling and swirling around slimy 
posts and the ragged edges of "dumps." Along these wooden 
streets were wharf-houses, "old-clo/* stores, junk shops, low 
restaurants, groggeries, and, in one place, a "Bit Theatre" where 
" Little Lottie," now Lotta, then a child, played her little part- 
Now this place is solidly built over, and where were rickety 
wooden wharves are firm stone pavements, where ten-ton drays 
pass and repass without breaking through and cars and street 
traffic rattle and roar from sun to sun. Before a small pile- 
driver was at work preparing for small enterprises ; now an 
Effel Tower in miniature strode the same ground dragging up 
logs sixty and eighty feet long and slowly driving them into the 
original bottom through the made ground ; the old piling be- 
ing too unstable for the heavy buildings now going up. These 
logs are of sugar pine, remarkably straight and are towed from 
Oregon in large floats bound around with chains like huge 
faggots. Storms sometimes break them apart and scatter them 
over the ocean. They cost from thirty to fifty cents a foot- 
The contractor, at work on a job two squares from the wharf, 
said in his experience he had frequently speared old ships that 
fifty years before had rounded the Horn with the freedom of the 
birds of the air, now stuck in the mud and the recipients of the 
** thrusts of the arrows of outrageous fortune." 

Speaking of fortune brings "Lotta" again to mind, for if hers 
is not ''outrageous," it is immense and as she is a good financier 
it is well husbanded — which she is not. When I saw her she 
was a theatrical waif, drifting back and forth from mining camp 
to city, a child of twelve years with none guessing her prosper- 
ous future. Her mother always traveled with her. She has 
left the stage from failing health and now lives in the south of 
France. I wonder if she ever thinks of the " Bit Theatre" over 
the surging wharf waters of San Francisco, her humble co-per- 
formers and the manager, Miss Rowena Granice ? On Market 



CALIFORNIA REVISITED. 9I 

street is a gilded fountain presented to the city by the little ac- 
tress, and known as Lotta Fountain. It is twenty feet high and 
four feet across with rehef figures representing Commerce, 
Agriculture, Mining, &c. The fogs are pitiless and it requires 
gilding annually, it not being such a work of art as to make 
that a superfluity, as per Shakespeare ; in fact critics call it a 




now THEY BUILT THE SHIPS IN. 

tawdry afTair, but on the principle of not looking a gift horse in 
the mouth the Franciscans make no comments, but apply the 
gold-cure regularly as the seasons roll and say nothing about 
the fc^. This air-sponge is a tender subject with these people. 
It is raw, cold and darkening, and soon dulls the brightness of 
paint; an item in a city where so many of the houses, even 



9^ AROUND SAN FRANCISCO. 

those of Nob Hill Millionaires, are of wood. When these Cali- 
fornians boast of their climate and you say "one cannot live on 
climate," they might retort with pride their fog is thick enough 
to eat ; but they don't. They, however, can say with truth 
that it takes the place of rain to a good extent and saves irriga- 
tion. But I dislike to say anything disparaging of California 
and its chief city ; for I found so much to like in their people, 
scenery and institutions. The memory of my two visits often 
pass through my mind, and though there is bitter with the 
sweet it is a source of great pleasure. However when I saw a 
grave blemish, and there was more than one, " I made a note 
on*t" and with a resolve " in faith I'd prent it." 

The first place I visited after getting settled was the old Mis- 
sion of San Francisco Dolores, about two miles south of Market 
street. In 1858 this was an attraction; not from any sentiment 
lingering around the time-honored place, but its running streams 
made the only green spot in the vicinity of the city, and besides 
there were beer-gardens, and it had been a place for bull-fights, 
horse racing and bear-baiting under the old Mexican regime. 
A plank road led thence from the plaza, and omnibusses ran 
half-hourly and carried out many pleasure seekers. Of the 
Mission buildings there was nothing left but the church and two 
or three of the store-houses and work-shops, built of adobes and 
roofed with tiles. The Mission itself was what attracted me 
then, as it did now, and I had become still more interested in 
the works of those contemporaries of our Pilgrim fathers, the 
Mission Fathers of California, since my first visit. 

On June 17 ; preceding our own Declaration of Independence, 
a company of Spanish soldiers, with their families and three 
priests, Palen, Camben and De la Pena; all under the spiritual 
guidance of the noted Father Juniperra Serra, left Monterey and 
marched up the coast seeking a new station whereat the heathen 
savages might be turned into good Christians. At the Laguna 



CAUPORHIA REVISITED. 93 

de los Dolores, a place temporarily occupied the year before, 
they halted and as soon as military defences were prepared the 
Mission was established in the meadow made green by the 
waters of Mission Creek, 

The first reverberations of the cannon announcing the com- 
pletion of the rude fort at the Presidio had hardly sounded be- 
fore the natives who gathered around the priests on their coming 




SAN FRANCISCO BAY AS THK MISSION FATHERS FIRST SAW IT. 



fled to the islands and other hiding places, so that when the 
fathers with planted cross, ringing bell and swinging censor, 
prepared a spiritual completion of the Spanish occupation of 
land around the Bay of San Francisco there was no response to 
their invitation to the gentiles. These were finally sought out, 
however, and kind treatment brought their rude minds to real- 
ize that the new comers from the far South were their friends. 



94 AROUND SAN FRANCISCO. 

Then they fell to work under the Father's directions and built 
some rude structures for worship and dwelling places. 

Saint Francis' day, October 4, 1776, was the time set apart 
for the formal dedication ; but the Commandante Moraga was 
not there, and as cannon, muskets and plenty of powder were 
wanted, they must wait for him. On the 9th he arrived and, 
with the necessary ordnance stores, all Was ready for the dedi- 
cation ; and now with the figure of the good saint borne at their 
head, and priests, soldiers and wandering Indians following, 
they marched 'round and 'round the mud-walled church amid 
the rattle of musketry and bang of cannon. The noise did for 
organ music while the powder-smoke made the incense. 

It was some months before the bulk of the Indianswerecon- 
verted, and it must be confessed the good Fathers had to call 
on the Commandante more than once for temporal aid to cor- 
ral the thankless savages, when their spiritual powers failed to 
control the instinctive lapses of the red heathen to their former 
state. This resulted in the transmission of some lead-laden 
notes from the pipes of the organ which played at the Mission 
dedication; so that the music which erst whiles soothed the savage 
beast in this case quieted it until it was stilled forever; in 
plainer English in trying to make the heathens Christians sev- 
eral were made into what our western friends call " good In- 
dians;" but all cokme out right in the end. The converts in- 
creased and the Mission prospered so that by 1825 there were 
800 Indians in the folds of the Church, and scattered among 
the hills and valleys south of the Mission were 7600 cattle, 3000 
horses, 800 mules, 79,000 sheep, 2000 hogs and 450 yoke of 
oxen. The wealth was further increased by 18,000 bushels of 
wheat and barley, $60,000 in specie and merchandise; besides 
a new and quite imposing collection of Mission buildings werq 
erected. The converts had built themselves comfortable 
homes around the plaza and were getting inured to the ways 
of civilized life, living in families and endowed with a certain 



CALIFORNIA REVISITED. 



9S 



amount ot negative religion ; infinitely preferable to their former 
heathenism. Under unfriendly legislation, by which the Mis- 
sions were seculariied by the Mexican government; and their 
lands taken from them and the power of the Fathers curtailed, 
they gradually went down; so that by 1835 the converts num- 
bered but 370, and the cattle and horses but 5600. In 1845 the 
Home government, finding the Missions disintegrating and the 
Indians relapsing into savagery, made an effort to have a par- 




THE OLD MISSION DOLORES. 

tial return to the former condition; but it was too late; they had 
had a taste o! easy life from the theft and slaughter of the wan- 
dering cattle and work no longer agreed with them ; so their 
adobe and mud plastered huts melted to the ground, for want of 
care, under the winter rains, and nothing was left of the well- 
named Mission of Sorrows but the Church and the few tiled 



9^ AROUND SAN FRANCISCO. 

buildings adjoining. It was thus when I saw it in 1858. The 
first was still used as a place of worship ; but the long shed^ 
which angled from it along the old plaza and around which 
were many homes was turned into a drinking place. 

It was a beautiful afternoon when I made my second visit to 
the old Mission ; this time not in a rumbling omnibus through 
a sandy waste, but in smartly gliding trolley cars over well 
paved streets and past fine residences. I will not go into emo- 
tional gush over the change in surroundings between the time 
of the two visits ; but simply say it was wonderful. Asphalt 
paved streets replaced the temporal plank road as it had super- 
ceded the sandy trail ; brilliant arc lights the candles and oil 
lamps that flickered from the saloon and few ' surrounding 
houses ; the electric cars the omnibuses, as they had supplanted 
the ox-carts of one hundred years ago, and comfortable homes 
were all around. A large brick church stood near the adobe 
Mission and took its place for purposes of worship. To widen 
the street a strip had been taken from the grave-^yard and 
iconoclastic utiliiarianism had cut the end from the Mission 
building, the historic facade with its columns, balcony and bel- 
fry, and then with wretched effect undertaken to make it look as 
of old. The rude neophytes, under the direction and insfMra* 
tion of the Spanish Monks wrought what modern art iailcd in; 
at least the "restored" columnar front of "Dolores," with fhe 
attempted imitation ot the bell-arches in the gable where swung 
the historic bells, with the trowel marks still showing, so im- 
pressed me. 

But the grave-yard adjoining — the Campo Santo, Holy Field, 
of the Mission Dolores ! When I saw it last it was neatly kept 
and the graves ornamented ^ith flowers and shells. Now it 
was a gruesome wilderness, with the marks of despoiled graves. 
No longer used as a burying ground but little care is given it 
The wooden pale fences lean over, and heavy turned posts, with 
ornamental connections, lie around graves where depressions 



CALIFORNIA REVISITED. 



97 



show the removal of former tenants. Many of the slabs are of 
rotting wood and around all are rank weeds and tangled vines. 
Broad tomb-stone shaped frames, eight and ten feet high and 
six wide, apparently to protect the plants and flowers once there 
from the fierce winds at times prevailing, abound. Some had 
lattice work projecting like hoods, around which withered vines 
were clinging. Many were rotting and ready to fall. With 
their scrolled heads they had a singular look. Monuments of 




THE MISSION DOLORES AS IT IS NOW. 

wood or Stone were in all conditions of decay. The childrens 
graves, each enclosed with a picket fence and sea shells long 
ago placed over them had a pathetic look. Some noted char- 
acters are buried here. Hie j'ocet, Yankee Sullivan, the prize 
fighter, and that other notoriety, who killed William Star 
King, "of William," as he was called, in 1856. I noted his 
monument in "A California Tramp" — a memorial to a murderer 



98 AROUND SAN FRANCISCO. 

being a novelty; while the inscriptions and emblems were als^ 
outre. With weeds around it and some of the ornamental work 
defaced by outraged visitors it raises its insulting fronts as of 
old, to the height of eight feet and width of thirty inches. One 
Pecksniffian sentence reads " May God forgive my enemies;'' 
another " Requiescat in Pace." It was built by a fire company 
to which Casey belonged, and designs of a broken ladder, fire- 
horn and rope, the last so suggestive of "the deep damnation of 
his taking ofT'' — the shuffling of the mortal coil — ^that it would 
seem as if a vein of irony must have streaked the mind of the 
originator of this unique tomb, as Casey was .strung up by self- 
appointed hangmen ; untried and unshriven. One of these told 
me that while the funeral was on its way to Lone Mountain the 
murderers, Casey and Corrie, were swinging on the procession 
route. The grave of the last was near Casey's, but a suggestive 
depression showed the body removed. King was the editor of 
a newspaper which had bitterly denounced the " Hounds," to 
which gang of robbers and murderers Casey and Corrie be- 
longed. He was very popular with the best class of citizens, 
and the retribution for his death was quick. I elaborate thus as 
the incidents were so common those times. 

One monument was of interest in a more agreeable way — to 
the first Governor of California. The inscription was in Spanish 
saying "Here lie the remains of the Captain Don Luis Antonio 
Arguello, first Mexican Governor of California; born in San 
Francisco in 1784; died there in 1S30." A tall shaft marks the 
resting place of a young girl suicide; an unusual circumstance 
in a Catholic cemetery, and a very humble stone the grave of a 
woman 107 years old. In contrast was the grave of a child of 
a few months, buried fifty years ago. The rank poisonous 
weeds and wooden tombs, erect and prone; uncouth and weath- 
er-beaten, make the old grave-yard a depressing place. 

Visitors are not profusely welcomed around the Mission 
Dolores; in fact some get scant courtesy and are then turned 



CALIFORNIA REVISITED. 99 

away. I was fortunate, as one who had known the Mission of 
old, and was shown all around it and the grave-yard by the 
young sexton. The chapel was of particular interest to me as 
a pattern of the Indian handiwork of a century ago» from the 
artist's brush to the rough hewn beams. There were large 
paintings on each wall representing the Last Supper, in a crude 
way, and figures of Popes, Saints and Martyrs; also niches 
twelve feet high and ten wide where the crucifixion was repre- 
sented in rude sculpture as well as isolated statuary. The 
place is now floored and seated; formerly there was the bare 
earth. The gallery was planked with hewn and hand-sawn 
lumber two inches thick. The trusses supporting the heavy 
tiled roof would interest an architect. The ridge-pole rested on 
principal rafters footed in the walls and crossed at the top to re- 
ceive it diagonally. The rafters were stiflfened by cross-braces 
and the intersections wound around and around with raw-hide 
thongs in numerous convolutions. This species of support was 
alternated with cross-beams and uprights. Thongs were also 
used to fasten the poles to the rafters on which the tiles were 
laid. These tiles were clumsy affairs and yet made with an eye 
to close fitting. They were two feet long and ten inches wide 
at one end and seven at the other. This was so the outside of 
one would fit the inside of that below. The first layers would 
be with small ends to the eves, and, of course, concave side up. 
Those round side up, and breaking joints, were wide ends down. 
This was a good roof, but very heavy and needed strong sup- 
port. I saw one building 220 feet by 60 with such a roof; the 
weight can be imagined, with the tiles an inch thick ; yet the 
thongs had not given where they came under my notice. The 
getting together of the timber from the distant mountains was a 
great undertaking with the rude appliances at hand. I saw 
beams 12x30 inches and 30 feet long which with the primitive 
tools at hand for dressing them and raising them to position 
must have taxed the strength and skill of the Indian converts to 



AROUND SAN FRANCISCO. 



the utmost. The walls were of adobes, unless easily dressed 
stone was at hand. The clay was sometimes poor, as was the 
case around Dolores, and as the bricks were simply sun-baked 




ALTERNATE TRUSSES FOR SUPPORTING ROOF OF DOLORES MISSION. 

the chances for the walls tumbling down were many while the 
heavy timbers were being placed thereon, and more than one 
luckless friar, and the records do not say how many neophytes 



CAUFORKIA REVISITED. lOt 

wefe buried under falling walls. The mortar used was clay, 
and the buildings were sometimes plastered therewith. I have 
thus particularized, as the Mission Dolores was the northern 
and most exposed outpost of the Church establishments in 
California, and its mechanical construction was a type of the 
rest, though smaller and less elaborate. 

Up a rickety ladder I passed to the loft. The floor was 
covered thick with the sand blown by the fierce winds which at 
times whirl around here and which sifts through the tiles and 
open belfries. The present Mission was built in 1792, as this 
was the date of the bells. As was the custom of the times these 
were named; one, the "Ave Maria Purissima"-— Mary the 
Purist — another the "San Martin." While trying to decipher 
the third, by brushing off the accumulated dust, my guide, the 
sexton's boy, warned me to desist, as I might start a chime 
from it and let his master know we were up there. It was the 
custom to have the Mission bells to have some saintly name 
and hung with ceremonies creating awe to the simple Indian 
mind. 

Dust-covered and dingy with their hundred years of service 
these brazen relics of the Mission days, rudely hung in their 
open arch-ways were an impressive sight. They had rung out 
invitations to the heathen savages, called the Angelus and tolled 
for the dead of the generations sleeping around them. It was 
of these bells that Bret Harte wrote those beautiful verses, "The 
Angelus/' on hearing their sunset call to prayer. 

** I bear jour call, and see the sun descending 
On rock, and wave, and sand, 
As down the coast the Mission voices blending 
Girdle the heathen land. 

** Within the circle of your incantations 
No blight nor mil-dew falls ; 
Nor fierce unrest, nor lust, nor low ambition 
Passes these airy walls. 

** Borne on the swell of your long waves receding) 



102 AftOUKD SAN FRANCISCO. 

I touch the farther past — 
I see the dying fi:low of Spanish glory, 
The sunset dream and last.'* 



In the long years ago when I wandered about the Mission 
grounds I felt a fascination which reappeared on my second 
visit. The quaint Moorish front with its columns and arches, 
and the overhanging tiled roof were reminders of the past, 
where hundreds of converted Indians thronged around where 
now there are none. The Mission itself, with one exception, is 
the only building left of the many once here. And this is pro- 
tected from the ravages of winter rains by rough weather board- 
ing. The Franciscans in general do not seem to set much value 
on this aged land-mark, but tourists are attracted towards it and 
during the Excursion summer numbers made pilgrimages to 
Dolores, but few were privileged to enter the church. The 
"Ultima Thule" of the Northern march of the Missions, it is 
held in reverence by historians and the sentimental ; and under 
the protection of the" Land-marks Club," organized to preserve 
the various Mission buildings from ruin, its salvation is assured. 

From the solemn old Mission and uncanny grave-yard to the 
underground squaller and barbaric display of China-town the 
transition is abrupt and startling. There were two ways ol 
"doing" this locality ; one as the Christian Endeavorers "did" 
it ; the other, as small parties of men, with morbid curiosity, 
and guides ready to pander to the worst tastes, accomplished 
their ends. What these saw proved that to compare men and 
women to beasts, libeled the beasts. What we saw was the 
tamest of slumming on our part, and giving us the least they 
could for the money was the mission of our guides. One of 
these was a Chinaman, the other a white native, and the 
thoughts of what they would show us made us shudder and 
feel conscience-smitten for fear we were doing something 
naughty that our home friends would censure us for when our 



CALIFORNIA REVISITED. lOj 

burdened minds forced us to confession. There were fifty of us 
innocents and for leading us around our guides got $^o, Huie 
Way, our guide celestial, told me he only got $3 of this and 
asked for an opportunity to show more extended sights when 
the present expedition was over, under his special supervision^ 
So behold us stringing along the streets of Chinatown, occa- 
sionally guyed by pagans and low whites, for the Endeavor 
colors were not relished by either. Our first visit was to a 
*'Joss House," but it looked more to me like a bric-a-brac store* 
Odd shaped monstrosities in bronze, brass and lacquer-ware of 
man, beast, bird and devil ; urns and dishes for them to eat and 
drink from; cymbals, gongs and tom-toms to stir them to war; 
swords and javelins to fight with and shields and armour to 
keep them from hurting. Up stairs to this barbaric jumble> 
Mandarin Way at the head and our white guide at the tail of 
the crowd, probably to see if there were as many sixty cents in 
his pocket as there were victims to his greed. Once amid the 
metallic night-mare Huie Way rapped attention and pointing 
to some figures and implements in bronze on a large table com* 
menced a strident harrangue which one of our Endeavor min- 
isters interpreted somewhat in this fashion : "When Chinaman 
farmer wantee plentee lain he give Gaw muchee lice." "He 
says when the Chinese farmer wants much rain he gives God 
plenty of rice." Then a collection of figures, with a huge cen- 
tral idol, is shown, denoting the Chinese idea of the Deity, with 
incense burning and implements of war around. As the smoke 
arises to the point of torment, thus again Huie, "When China- 
man wantee good luck fighter play Gaw and blun plentee 
smoke. Blight splear head say we lickeeand killee velly much- 
ee;" pointing to a flaming spear head above the scene. Then 
the interpreter, " He says when the Chinese wish success in 
battle they pray to God and burn plenty of incense. The 
bright spear head means victory, and the slaughter of many 
enemies." As Huie's voice sounded as from a bubbling mush-- 



104 AROUND SAN FRANCISCO. 

pot our translater's rendering from pigeon English to the King'3 
own was wonderful. After we had listened to (nore of Mr. 
Way's harrangue he led us to farther sights and explanations 
and then took us to an opening in a partition and showed us a 
tea-party of China women eating on a lower floor. They were 
chattering a polyglot of cat, parrot and monkey-talk that grated 
on our ears like saw-filing, while they drank tea, or something 
stronger, and perhaps ate the traditional delicacies our child' 
hood school books spoke of. Going out into the street again 
we crossed over and descended a dingy stairway to a dark cel- 
lar iti whose rear was an opium ''joint.*' Here our thinning 
crowd gathered to look at a few wretches who, reclining on 
rude couches were loading their pipes with opium of the con. 
sistency of tar, lighting and smoking it. While the white 
''guide*' was protecting the main portion of our people from 
imaginary thugs and High-binders, Huie Way was showing the 
more venturesome and strong stomached the "awful examples" 
prone before him. "Him smokee all he life," said he, with 
obtuseness as to conclusions, and pointing to a reclining opium 
fiend stolidly pushing the pasty drug in his pipe, unmindful of 
our presence ; " him velly stlong man ; no hurtee him ; get 
used to it," he continued, in answer to a white-ribbon lady* 
"allee same dlink blandy ;" all of which showed Huie's ideas o^ 
the effects of opium on the human form divine were different 
from ours, and that he would make a poor anti-nicotine lecturer. 

The whole of the sights in Chinatown ; so covered with 
mystery in our imaginations ; was so like a set-up job, on us of 
the feet so tender, from Joss House to Opium Den, that it 
palled on the senses. The guides were a pair of fakes, the Joss 
House seemed like a store, and the opium "victims" as if shar- 
ing the money we paid the guides ; and I was glad to leave the 
scenes and get some fresh night air. After we got back to the 
starting point we found the balance of our crowd impatiently 
waiting our coming so as to get their turn "slumming" China- 



CALIFORNIA REVISITED. IO5 

town ; and following our discarded guides they were soon on 
their way to scenes of high and low life in the homes of the 
Celestials and to get left like ourselves. 

TELEGRAPH HILL. 

In 1849 a signal station was established on a high point on 
the shore north of the city and in clear weather commanding a 
view of the Golden Gate, eight miles away. There incoming 
vessels were signaled and, in the language of the "semaphor," 
their rig and general style was communicated to merchants and 
newspaper men by its enterprising projector. Afterwards an 
outer station was built on Point Lobos, where ships far out at 
sea were descried and "semaphored" to Telegraph Hill, and 
thence to awaiting eyes. The fogs were sometimes a drawback, 
but the electric telegraph in time partly obviated that. In 1858 
this was a point of note. 

To take a look from the top of this old land-mark, so plainly 
in view from my sixth-story restaurant at the foot of Market 
street, I one afternoon wended my way through the crowded 
thoroughfares which lay over the old Cove of Yerba Buena. 
Soon came the ascent. First there were pavements of increas- 
ing grade till they became so steep that slats had to be nailed 
on the board walk to prevent slipping. In ascending it was 
easy for one to imagine himself a chicken going to roost. The 
higher streets were lined with the houses and shanties of 
Italians and the decendants of the original Mexican-Indian 
population which once gathered around the old Mission 
Dolores. Here, driven at last by the crowding, jostling Ameri- 
cans, these retrograding remnants of the mingled blood of the 
first settlers call to mind the place of "The last sigh of the 
Moor/' Shoved much farther and they will be down a rocky 
precipice and into the Bay. On the slatted pavement young 
hoodlums abounded — teasers of cats and dogs and one another, 
and participants in all manner of rude horse-play. Beyond the 
''chicken walk'' the ascent was by rough goat-paths ; so steep 



I06 AROUND SAN FRANCISCO. 

that a running start was sometimes necessary to reach the sum- 
mit. My way from Market street reminded me of the diminish- 
ing route I once read of; a railroad, turnpike, by-road, foot- 
path and squirrel-track leading up a tree. Near the top of the 
hill were the remains of a concrete wall ; sections of which had 
been pried over by mischievous boys and rolled down the steep. 
The ground about the summit was bequeathed to the city by 
the owner on condition that it would be improved. This was 
complied with by enclosing it, laying out walks and planting 
shrubbery and flowers; but the Elements in general were 
against the aesthetic enterprise. My old time "Natural Philoso- 
phy" designated four of these Elements : Fire, Air, Earth and 
Water. The change made in that number since I went to school 
I know not ; for our text books have shown addition, subtrac- 
tion and detraction. Our favorite heroes turn out myths, or are 
robbed of the deeds and attributes which ennobled them in our 
young minds, until we are doubting Thomases ; so at last there 
is no Albert to own a head for William Tell to shoot an apple 
from and no William Tell if there was ; no Romulus nor Remus, 
except as the last, prefixed with Uncle, shows himself in the 
dialect stories of Harris ; no clubbing of John Smith and his 
subsequent salvation by the squaw who should have married 
him, in the eternal fitness of things, instead of Rolfe ; no cutting 
down of the Washingtonian cherry-tree and no " I cannot tell a 
lie, father !" But let me again get on top of Telegraph Hill, or, 
if I get much farther ofif, it will be as hard a mental undertaking 
as it was a physical one to mount its wind-swept apex. I was 
speaking of the old-time quartette of Elements in connection 
therewith. There seems to have been a dearth of one and a 
surplus of another. Fire wiped out one of the Pioneer Park 
buildings ; Air and Water, in semblance of cold fog, chilled the 
life out of the delicate plants and flowers which beautified it; 
Air itself, fanned to fierce winds from the Golden Gate, worked 
the same destruction ; Earth was too much represented by rockt 



CALIFORNIA REVISITED. IO7 

and as for Water, to green and brighten the flower-beds, it was 
too much labor to elevate it thereto. So the grass withered* 
the flowers faded, and the walls tumbled over, and bleak ruin 
supplants the one time glories of Telegraph Hill. 

Twelve years ago a conscienceless party, though enterprising 
withal, built a tower-crowned structure on the edge of Pioneer 
Park, then in its glory ; for the city was disposed at that time 
to beautify its heirloom, even if it involved an elemental con- 
flict. The building was an immense affair, and seen for miles 
around from sea and land. The main floor was used for bar- 
room, low variety performances and the worst of uses. Your 
San Franciscan man of the world is no hypocrite ; his apologist 
compares him favorably with the Boston man at the other end 
of the latitudinal line, who hides his vices while his opposite 
manfully lets the light on his own. My own observations teach 
me that hypocrisy is sometimes preferable to candor ; for the 
last is so often an excuse for wrong doing, while the first, at 
least, shows respect to decent surroundings. To accommodate 
frequenters of the pleasure resorts on Telegraph Hill, Millionaire 
Sutro extended his street-cable system to the summit ; but an 
accident on the steep incline, and scant travel caused its aban- 
donment, and it is now a ruin like the Park above. The wooden 
castle, now also owned by Sutro, since the sheriff sold it, is in 
decadence and no longer a resort for pleasure seekers. It is a 
credit to the city below that this is so ; for San Francisco needs 
moral apologies ; still it may be that Vice, being an easy going 
attribute, finds more accessible haunts than this wind-swept 
place, and so avoids it. 

On account of the inequalities of the Hil] a part of this build- 
ing is much lower than the rest and, with the cupola for his 
head the whole is in semblance of the sitting figure of a weath- 
er-beaten roue, deserted by his holiday friends and awaiting the 
final summons. The view from the cupola was one of the at- 
tractions of the place and to attain it I knocked at one of the 



io8 



AROUND SAN FRANCISCO. 



doors, and an unkempt little girl made her appearance, and led 
the way upward through the silent, dust-strewn theatre and 
bar-room as we went. My guide told me her parents and their 
six children were the sole tenants of this one time observatory 
and pleasure resort ; that Mr. Sutro gave $20,000 for it and let 
them have it rent free. After a long ascent we came to the 
glass-enclosed lookout, and fine, indeed, was the view. To the 
Northwest were the pillars of the Golden Gate; on the North 




OAKLAND IN 



Saucilito, with Mt. Tamilpais rising high above it ; West, in 
succession, were Alcatraz, Angel and Goat Islands, with the 
towns of Berkley, Oakland and Alameda on the shores beyond. 
Back of them the Contra Costa Hills arose in uneven ridges, 
with Mont Diablo towering over all. Looking over the aty on 
the left was the Call Building rising fifteen stories in defiance of 
possible earthquakes in the future such as have rattled the 



CALIFORNIA REVISITED. IO9 

town in the past. To the right came the Nob Hill residences. 
By the time I had got thus far the balance of the children had 
made their way up the steps and my guide's time was much 
taken up with efforts to drive them back; but like Banqos* 
ghost "they would not down." She had the localities well in 
hand and, for one so young was entertaining in her descrip- 
tions. The mother of the household, not knowing the where- 
abouts of her charges, soon put in her appearance, and took up 
her daughter's efforts to drive the little flock below. She gave 
that up, however, and continued my guide's description of the 
surroundings. Gifted with sea-lore, like they who live by the 
^'sounding shore," she showed me the vessels lying below, or 
sailing in from the distant gates, some from the East ; some 
from the West. That big one was from New Zealand ; remind- 
ing her of her home in the far South Seas her family had left 
years ago for better fortunes in California. She complained of 
the lack of interest felt in the old look-out station and wanted 
me to direct my Christian Endeavor friends there. 

While looking around the merciless fog was coming in 
through the Golden Gate and soon the hills facing the straits^ 
Saucilito and the base of high Tamilpais were hidden, and, 
creeping stealthily in, the mist was eating the view along the 
Contra Costa shores^ from Berkley southward and the peaks of 
the islands only were seen. Passing down the tower steps, 
followed by the clattering feet of the children and through the 
halls where the gilded youth of the city below formerly caroused 
I left the breesy ruins of Pioneer Park and clambering down the 
hill passed homeward. 

AROUND THE GOLDEN GATE. 

Who visits the opening of San Francisco Bay on the ocean 
takes the chance of the often present fog hiding it from his 
view. I was compelled to make a second visit, when all was 
bright The setting sun shone straight in ; the waves danced 
and gleamed under its light and I was reminded of Bayard 



I Id AROUND SAN FRANCISCO. 

Taylor's poem; written for Jenny Lind, on her visit to America, 
referring to this place : — 

And opes lo 

I stood on Point Lobos ; a mile across was the Punta Bonita. 
or Pretty Point of the old Spaniards, and between these the 
waves surged grandly in. Near by a bell-buoy rang its solemn 




ENTKANCE TO THE GOLDEN GATE. 

warnings, while from the Pavillion at the Cliff House gay music 
sounded, a striking "contrast of sweet sounds" indeed. Outside 
a targe, full-rigged ship was coming up the coast towards the 
Gate while smaller craft were sailing through the channel. Tbti 
^iew inland included the Presidio and Aleatraz Island. 



CALIFORNIA REVISITED. tit 

Near here are the Sutro Baths where in large glass buildings 
bathers disport in heated water brought in from the adjacent 
sea. Snow and frost are here practically unknown, yet here in 
July was shown this anomaly. Down chutes, head or feet fore- 
most, the merry men and women seek the tempered waters 
while hundreds look on from the balconies. In the adjoining 
pavillion the air is vibrant with music while on the rocks be- 
low seals bark and gulls scream above them. Near here is 
Sutro Park, on the edge of which lives the Hebrew miner who 
made his millions from the great drainage tunnel bearing his 
name. The Park is full of trees, flowers and tropical shrub- 
bery, including many large palms and century plants and 
statues innumerable. The surrounding fence is of pickets 
twenty feet high, although the grounds are free to the public. 
Mr. Sutro owns the baths and the trolley road leading thereto. 
The steam narrow-guage is owned by the Southern Pacific, and 
Sutro had great trouble in building his line as the two roads 
run for some distance on the same street. 

From the Cliff House, perched on a rock overhanging the 
sea there is a fine view ocean-ward and here pleasure seekers 
from the city while away many an idle hour looking at the in 
and outgoing ships, the seals disporting on the rocks below and 
listening to a band which plays here in afternoons. To the 
man of leisure and means it is easy to kill Time around San 
Francisco. 

On my way out I saw some odd looking grave-yards a mile 
or so back from the Park and hearing one of them was a 
Chinese I walked back thereto. Who ever tries walking 
through the sands here met with knows work. I tried the 
route, tramp-fashion, on the ties of the trolley and on the wagon- 
road, but it was all the same, one sand-drifl after another. The 
country was unsettled and hoboes abounded, so I was glad from 
named causes to end my journey. This was a burial section, 
where amid weedy hills of loose, yielding sand, Jews, Italians, 



112 



AROUND SAN FRANCISCO. 



Chinese, Japanese and the denizens of the Almshouse rest after 
the world is done with them. An oasis in this desert of God's 
Acres was the cemetery of a German society ; a garden of 
floral splendor in a wasts of weed-tufted sand dunes. The 
graves and plots were covered with geraniums three or four feet 
high and bright with bloom, brought about by daily watering. 
The contrast with the surrounding grounds was remarkable. 
The Italian, Jewish and cemeteries of similar people were un- 
interesting save from there desolate surroundings ; but the 




CLIFF HOUSE AND SEAL ROCKS. 

Chinese grave-yard ! To reach it I waded through the sands 
and weeds of that of the Italians and the Poor-house. At the 
last were hundreds of narrow, wooden slats, numbered to high 
figures telling where lie the paupers of the Land of Gold- 
Wading through more weeds and sand, some tea-chest litera- 
ture over a rickety gate-way told me where Wah Lee, Hop 
Sing and his brethren temporarily rest This cemetery is 
divided off into lots of about forty feet wide on each side of a 



CALIFORNIA REVISITED. II 3 

weedy road. The Chinese clannishness does not end with this 
life. These clans are called " Tongs/* and on arch-ways lead- 
ing to the lots are the names of each ''Tong," generally in Eng- 
lish ; as the Chinese sexton is an Irishman, from some unex- 
plained reason. The fences are generally dilapidated, the 
winds being powerful hereabouts and the foot-hold of the posts 
yielding. Going through one of the gates we see to the right a 
semi-circular structure twelve feet across, with a low wall part 
way around it. In front is an altar six feet high with raised 
characters on the fire-place. This is black with smoke and 
there are remains of fire-works all around ; spent thunder from 
the last funeral, and looking like Fourth of July left-overs. On 
the right was a furnace, with chimney six feet high, and grating 
on which are burned certain belongings of the dead, as well as 
carnal sacrifices. If the heirs of the deceased can stand the cost, 
the body is laid in front of the altar while the priest rings a 
bell ; "shoos" the evil spirits away ; fires off cannon-crackers, so 
they will fear to come back ; lays trains of rice paper in such 
convolutions that they will get bewildered in hunting the road 
to the grave and performs other ceremonies. Then the body 
IS borne to its temporary resting place, the walls of which are 
so weak from the loose sand as to hardly stand until it is lower- 
ed, the opening filled, pork, chicken and rice laid on the mound, 
as provisions for the long journey, and the mourners move 
homewards. I was just too late for a funeral, but as I came I 
saw a rickety wagon, manned by two Chinamen, and drawn by 
two boney horses on their way from the cemetery where they 
had been leaving some of the standard diet used by their dead ; 
the supply needing replenishing. Between hungry dogs and 
hollow tramps it is best fellow who gets in between the living 
and the dead Celestials. The living must know where the 
viands go but their stolidity and child-like blandness don't 
show it Going over the grounds many narrow head-boards 
are seen with "Tea-talk" running down them ; though for the 



114 AROUND SAN FRANCISCO. 

more important dead, picket fences and wooden curbs are used 
enclosing single graves. The health authorities require a three 
years burial, when the bones are dug up and laid in vaults, 
whence they are shipped to the Flowery Kingdom after a suffi- 
cient number are accumulated. 

I found a young hoodlum sportsman on the grounds shooting 
birds with a *'cane-rifle'' he had smuggled out from the city as 
the authorities would not tolerate such unseemly sport. His 
luck had favored him as the bulging pocket of his coat showed. 
An admiring lad of his species assisted him as "retriever." 

This boy was a character, who with abnormal mind haunted 
this gruesome section of dead-man's land until he was full of 
knowledge of Chinese burial and the subsequent legalized 
ghoulishness. Except when aiding the hunter in his unholy 
calling he was chattering details more interesting than appetiz- 
ing of the strange burial customs, the viands spread for the 
dead, the squabbles between tramps and dogs for the ''funeral 
baked meats,'' and the exhumations and bearing away of the 
osseous Chinese remains. 

On our way home we passed Lone Mountain Cemetery where 
Broderick lies buried and afterwards, on a hill overlooking the 
city, Laurel Hill, where repose, after official labors, thirteen 
United States Senators — certainly an unlucky number — for 
them. 

Stopping to rest on our homeward way we came across a 
talkative man who had been farmer, miner, an all around gen* 
eral utility man in California and not so full of loyalty to his 
state but what he could see both sides of her shield. The 
farmers, he said, were ruining the land with excessive cropping; 
for want of a market thousands of tons of fruit were letting; 
the philoxera was destroying the vineyards, the morals of the 
large towns were dreadful and the youth being ruined. Like a 
great many impartial men he seemed to see but one side — the 
dark one. 



CALIFORNIA REVISITED. 115 

But I was impressed with the lack of respect tor religion I 
found here, among those from whom I had a right to expect a 
different feeling. To the embodiement of Eastern Evangelical 
Christianity — our Christian Endeavors — I could expect to see 
directed the sneers of Italians, Chinese and street-corner loafers; 
but to hear disrespectful remarks from intelligent women grated 
harshly on the ear. With us the respectable of the gentler sex 
take the lead in religion, or, it not active they are passive and 
attend church to be in the fashion, if for nothing else. Unless 
I was misled by exceptional cases this is not the condition of 
things in California. 



|i ^^€)ylj0^^^' H' 



VII. 



5Jo Jtfonterey. 




Where spreading live-oaks punctuate the plafa 

And green the foot-hills of the serried ran|i:e. 
And laden orchards, fields of ripening grain, 

And pastures flecked with cattle interchange, 
Where rang the Mission bells from tower and glade ; 

Where thronging converts bowed to christening hand ; 
Where lowljr, red-tiled homes of gray lay spread 

In fostering shades of churches, rising grand, 
Unheeding much we go our rushirg course, 

Drawn by the iconoclastic steam-fed horse. 

|N July 12 we took an excursion to the old town of Mon* 
terey ; noted for its fine bay, quaint houses and his- 
torical associations, and last but first in the eye of your 

Average Traveler, the Del Monte Hotel and surrounding park 

and gardens. 

Passing out of the southern limits of San Francisco we rolled 
over the old Mission lands where, when Dolores was in its 
prime, thousands of cattle, horses and sheep pastured under the 
dominion of quiet herdsman or dashing vaquero, with the guid- 
ing hand of the Mission Fathers over all. With the ocean on 
our right and the southern arm of the shallowing bay on our 
lefb we roll down the widening peninsula. Bare mountains 
overlooking the sea were seen awhile in depressing monotony. 
These soon became wooded and the plains fertile. The formers 
had most of their wheat cut and were busy harvesting and 

(ii6) 



CALIFORNIA REVISITED. tif 

baling their "wild-oats/' as known in my pastoral California 
days, or " hay-oats'* as they now call it Ricks of this dotted 
the fields from railroad to mountain. It was the custom to burn 
strips or plow furrows around these, as fire-precaution from the 
dreaded locomotives; as in this rainless summer the stubble 
burns like tinder. We stopped awhile at Stanford University ; 
a collection of plain but expensive buildings, some imitating the 
old Spanish Missions. The grounds cover 3000 acres and the 
institution has accommodations for 1000 students of both sexes. 
The site is a level plain and as the weather was hot, and it was 
vacation time I was glad when our stop was over. It is called 
the Leland Stanford, Junior, University, named for the only 
child of Millionaire Stanford. This lad died at the age of seven^ 
teen ; blighting the hopes of his parents. The father, from be* 
ing one of the energetic heads of a mammoth railroad combina*^ 
tion, lost his interest from the date of his son's death, willed the 
bulk of his millions that his name might be perpetuated and 
then turned his face to the wall. The mother lives in the past» 
with the vision of her boy always before her. She is generous 
in the giving forth of her wealth. 

The plains began to be more thickly dotted with live-oaks— 
in such numbers, in fact, that I wondered the farmers tolerated 
them ; but I learned that the roots of these ever-greens lie so 
far below the surface that vegetation is not afTected. The truth 
is that grass grows better in their shade; besides they are a 
refuge for cattle from the burning rays of the sun. These trees 
impressed me the same as did those on the foot-hills around my 
old Sonoma home in their resemblance to old apple trees; 
whether singly or in groups. In many instances they stood at 
an incline, as if constant winds had bo^ed them down. Some 
of their trunks were three feet across, and they shaded a diame- 
ter of sixty to eighty feet. Scattered over grain-fields and pas- 
ture lands, or thickly wooding the hills, they were a very pic- 
turesque feature of the landscape ; made more so when the earth 



Il8 TO MONTEREY. 

was carpeted with wild-oats. The orchards greening the plains 
and slopes also beautify the scene ; apple, pear, apricot, peach, 
plum and cherry ; with here and there one of almond and Eng- 
lish walnut. They are irrigated two or three times a year and 
those in season were loaded with luscious fruit. Apricots were 
a drug and tourists were welcomed to help themselves. The 
soil is worked as soon as dry enough until the surface is like a 
garden ready for planting. The trees were small; generally 
from fifteen to twenty feet high. 

At San Jose we dined. The pronunciation is San Hoaay, but 
we people allowed ourselves much latitude ; the freedom of our 
conntry extending to the Pacific; so we called it as above, or 
Saint Jo, Saint Josey, San Josey, or whatever came handy; 
similarly we converted the Spanish article corresponding to the 
in Los Angeles and Los Gatos (two towns whose names mean 
"The Angels" and "The Cats") into "those" or "lost;" thus 
Those Angels, or Those Cats, or Lost Angels or Cats. By the 
way "The Cats" would have a funny sound if applied to one 
of our pleasure resorts ; the suggestiveness would rather keep 
off visitors. San Jose claims 30,000 people ; the chief industry 
being the canning and drying of fruit. We found the sun hot 
enough to cook the fruit before canning, consequently its dry- 
ing qualities go without saying. Southward from San Jose, be- 
tween the enfilading mountains, the air was so oppressive we 
could hardly bear it. The sun beat down as if of molten brass 
and parched the adobe ground until riven by yawning seams, 
but no one, man or beast, appeared to care. They knew, as the 
sun lowered, cool breezes would sweep in from the sea and all 
would be well. As we sped along each valley seemed more 
fertile than the last. Thousands of acres of alternating orchard, 
grain-field and pasture, interspersed with large tracts of onions, 
beets and strawberries were passed. Apricots, peaches and 
apples were being picked and boxed up. The mowing ma- 
chines were rattling away and while some of the oats was put 



CALIFORNIA {^VISITED. MQ 

in huge FJcks mvich wa^ baled ^nd corded in long walls, or 
[laubd lo the ears for shipment. Derricks were used for rickr 
Ing. Qn one of these mimic hay-mountains we saw a horse 
walking around tramping the straw. In one immen§e wheat 
field the grain had been cut and the sheaves lay thickly strewn 
over it from end to end. The brightness of the {straw, from 
absence of rftin, attracted our notice. In another field a 
** Header/' with relays of large-bodied wagons along side, or 
bearing the clippings away as fast as filled^ was snipping off the 
wheat-heads, while a steam thresher close by was making the 
grain ready for the mill. They have a combination of header, 
thresher and cleaner^ run by steam traction engines which cut 
a fifty-foot swath, but these are for the broader plains of the 
Sacramento and 3^n Joaquin. We saw various machines; 
threshers, baleri; and portable engines, on their way from ranch 
to ranch ; hu^e gypsy vans for housing itinerant help, and 
heavy trucks, some with ^^traijers/' hauling hay and grain along 
the road; and altogether the sqene was lively beyond descrip- 
tion. If it w(^fe not for some of those odious comparisons I 
would compare the way^ and means of harvesting, threshing, 
&c., with the times of the old Missions^ when the sickle, horse- 
tramping and rude stone mill were the rule. On some ranches 
thef harvest was ended and it was pleasant to see the many 
horses, released from labor pasturing in the live-oak shaded 
fields, all loplcing fat and sleek, Our whirling progress was 
only a repetition of these sights and sounds. The country, 
however, grew piore wooded. Trees in single or double rows 
lined the long lanes leading to ranch-buildings and our per- 
renial friends, the liveroaks, still dotted the landscape. At last 
the hills flanking the yalley came together and breaking 
through a transverse ridge we reached the conglomeration of 
sand and water caUed the San Benito river. Soon the waves of 
the Ps^cific again rolled in sight and we then were at Del Monte. 
H^fie ill s^ par}c of 150 acreS| surrounded by grand trees, tropi- 



TO MONTEREY. 



cal plants and flowers are hotel buildings accommodating 700 
people. Palms of all kinds, century plants of huge dimensions, 
from one of which in bloom a stalk shot up forty feet high, and 




other curiosities in southern vegetation abounded. We were 
received with the inn's warm welcome and there being some 



CALIFORNIA REVISITED. 12! 

Spare time before supper, or dinner as we stylish folk called it, 
with a friend I took a walk down to the borders of the bay 
whose surging waves we heard from the hotel. The sight was 
one to gladden heart and eye. The sun just sinking below the 
sea-line was glistening the distant waves; the surf was rolling 
up the shore ; the fishing boats arose and fell midway, while the 
electric lights glittered along the crescent shores of Monterey, 
which quaint old town was but a mile away. 

Another anomaly, such as we had seen before, only still 
more prominent ; in the land of tropical vegetation, in the month 
of July, an ocean watering place where the bath-houses were 
enclosed and the sea water heated to make it comfortable for 
the bathers ! 

Early next morning my friend and I walked to the old church 
of San Carlos on the edge of the town. It has been modernized, 
the walls plastered ; cushioned pews taking the places of rude 
benches, or, before them, the bare earth ; stained glass windows 
the scant openings of old ; recent paintings and high colored 
pictures the quaint limning done by Spanish artist or Indian 
apprentice. The church was not open so we went to an old 
adobe house for enquiry. Passing a resistive dog I went to an 
open door where a typical Spanish-Indian couple were eating 
breakfast. A carpetless floor ; bare, wooden table ; rude 
benches ; meat in a fiery stew ; a cup of water to extinguish it ; 
some coarse bread, with Jose and Merced stolidly partaking of 
the rude viands ; all took me back to the Mission days, long 
past. After some trouble I made them understand our errand 
— this unlike Alissandro-Ramona couple — when the woman 
went with us to the church, and the sexton being come, she 
took us in and in hushed tones with occasional obeisances, as 
we passed sacred objects, tried to answer our enquiries. Our 
talk under favorable out-door auspices was but a jargon of 
Pigeon English and Spanish and we were both relieved when I 
gave her a fee, which, as usual was about as small as the donor 



1^0 TO MONTfiRiSy^ 

could make it and not seem mean^ The figure; of thid duak/ 
descendant of the Mission converts was bad ; her face w4s worite, 
and I was troubled to affiliate her with the Indian Mission 
maidens ivhich " H. H." brought to our acquaintance; but Wheii 
Ihe gave her name, Merced Castro, I felt relieved, and her ro^ 
mantic title formed a dull halo about her prosaic clay which 
took me back to the time when that family was prominent here, 
and indirectly exalted the poor Indian, to a degree which made her 
jpassable. A recent earthquake had cracked the plastering of 
the church, which was a matter of interest ; another that 2700 
missions Indians lay in the Campo Santo— the Holy Field-^ 
back of the building; another that the path from street to 
church-door was paved with the vertebrae of whales ; showing 
what one of the industries of Monterey was^ though a declining 
one. 

From here we passed on to the town — once the capital of 
California ; now showing many remains of Spanish or Mexican 
occupancyi Here Fremont raised the stars and stripes and 
took formal possessioil of the country. The old Capitol and 
Custom House are still intact Some of the old adobes are in 
ruins, and their tumbling walls, scattered tiles and bared tim- 
bers, reminders of old Mission days, are of saddening interest 
Some are renovated so as to be habitable ; all picturesque in the 
extreme, with their red roofs and gray walls. Chalk abounds 
here, and in some instances was used for foundations on which 
to build the sun dried brick walls of one hundred years ago. 
But the people are not very amorous of the antique and wonder 
why the "gringos," or green-horns, care for the red-tiled tum- 
ble-down buildings ; so they use them for stables, stores and 
saloons as long as they will hold together ; and as the house 
falls so it lies ; one of the old buildings, store-house, convent or 
something of the kind, was used as a Presbyterian Mission. 

At 8 o'clock we started on the "seventeert-mile drive ;" bUt 
the bay^ down the coast and over the hills to place of starting. 



CALlFOftlitA RiVIBlTBD. 123 

The hhd| Inik after mile Around Monterey is owned by tht 
Southern PiicifiCf 1^ Aianimoth corporation controlling many 
railroads and street^^car lines as well as lands and hotels in Cali>^ 
forhia, although often in other nafneS. The Drive is kept in 
order by the sub-'head of the same corporation, "The Pacific 
Improvement Company/' the apple of whose eye is the Hotel 
Del Monte; a Paradisical Symphony in architecture and gar^ 
dening. The Drive is a fine piece of road and free to th^ 
public, which means practically the livery stables outside the 
one at the Hotel. These must charge established rates or keep 
ofTthe route; which is not unfair — for them. 

There Were about four hundred booked for the excursion, 
4nd, here let me add, preserve me from such crowds I The BaV>- 
iag in rates is its nothing compared to the discomfort of such 
rtlshing, jamming, Satarl-take-the^hindmost way Of enjoyment. 
As the coaches held from six to sixteen, and all wanted to gO 
in the nicest, and there were all kinds to fill the want, and to 
sit next the driver, there was confusion worse confounded. The 
one who is de trop^ in a full stage is not to be enviedi He is 
the last man to get in ; has paid his fare and has equal rights 
with the rest ; but his companions sour on him until he feels 
like getting out and walking* We had one of these in our 
oOach and I pitied him, as on the ragged edge of a seat he tried 
to enjoy the beauties of sea and land, while seated between, or 
rather in front of two school-ladies^ A good portion of our 
party was composed of these. School was out and they were 
4broad» No more listening to the recitations of a-b-abs, and 
tiie ascending scale therefrom, until the pupils "commence^ 
ment'' gave relief. Some of these were very smart ; once in a 
while you would come across one too cute for anything. I saw 
a gentleman who had been up the coast before, who thought he 
knew a thing or two and felt justified in addressing a stranger, 
#ay to one of these wanderers, who weeks ago had bidden adieu 
to home and manners in the far East, as he pointed to a promi- 



124 TO MONTEREY. 

nent evergreen, "That is a Live Oak/' "Yes," said she, " I sup- 
pose so. I see it is not a dead one/' And then the well kept 
countenance that showed the sayer a dispenser oi bon mots, and 
the smiles that wreathed the faces of her companions ! And 
furthermore what other smart things come out from these sev- 
eral maids from school, and on a lark ; the quips, tb^ refined 
gags, the puns ; why they were just running over with disin- 
fected Jo Millerisms ! 

To see the proportion in numbers of the two sexes on our 
excursion one would think men cared little for travel, or else 
had more to do, as they composed but about one-third. This 
was partly accounted for by the number of women teachers re- 
leased from their labors, and by men generally hazing less re- 
ligion thus making them a minority among the Christian En- 
deavorers. " Tis true, 'tis pity ; pity 'tis, 'tis true ;" but let that 
go. 

But I am making little progress with my stage-ride. One 
after another our conveyances, from stately Concord coach, car- 
rying sixteen, to humble four-seater started off and at last went 
ours. Now here is my time to bring in 

*' Crack went the whips ; round went the wheels. 
Were ever folks so glad ?" 

Although I cannot truthfully say our whips cracked, but the 
axles stood a chance to from our loads. The wheels certainly 
went round and our folks were as glad as any sardines, tightly 
packed, could be. Through the streets of Monterey we whirled 
by crumbling walls, by tiled buildings of a way-back age when 
the Mission Fathers held sway, and the Indian converts humblv 
followed their teachings and did their bidding at manual labor; 
in tilling land, herding, in workshops and factory, and in the 
erection of buildings, which for design, massiveness and work- 
manship make us wonder. Past the old Custom House, by the 
Embareadero, where many a galleon once anchored ; by the cross 
marking the spot where Father Junipera Serra landed in 1773, 



CALIFORNIA REVISITED. 125 

and then by the costly statue erected to his memory by Mrs. 
Stanford. The whaling station, greasy and stained from ren- 
dering blubber, and malodorous, withal, we canter by and also 
Chinatown with its Joss House and other queer appendages. 
Then comes Pacific Grove, a roll through the woods and along 
the rock-bound sea-coast, resonant with surging waves. Next 
Chinese fishing stations whose craft are manned, if we may use 
the term, by beings who look like junk pirates and yet who may 
be as "mild mannered" as Byron's Greek Corsair. Their homes, 
built of wreckage and brown with sun, with their uncouth in- 
dwellers drying and mending their nets for the night's catch, 
were picturesque indeed. Along the shore were rocks, on 
which, or flying around them were gulls, cormorants and peli- 
cans in noisy numbers. The ten-mile drive along the coast, 
with the waves lashing the rocks, or rolling in succession up 
the sandy beach was to be remembered. The guide-book 
promised a number of seals, but it seemed to be their "day off;" 
but there seemed to be so much other optical food we forgave 
their absence. 

A peculiar feature of the coast our route skirted was the 
cypresses. Battling with the merciless ocean winds for cen- 
turies some had succumbed to fate, while others seemed en- 
dowed with a fighting chance for life. The first with unrooted 
trunks and gnarled limbs clawing the air looked like the skele- 
tons of giant, octopean monsters, bleached to bony whiteness ; 
the others almost prone to earth still raised their limbs in air; 
their tufted extremities seemingly waving defiance to the 
enemy, wierd and ghastly in their contorted shapes. If they 
could be imagined with feeling there was an indescribable 
pathos in their looks. 

We stopped at one point to allow our people to gather sea- 
shells and such flotsam and jetsam as might interest them, and 
then, going forward, left the sea. Our long, straggling caval- 



ia4 TO UOKTMMMy. 

• 

cade now wound up the overlooking pioqiitain, and moving &«t 
or slow, as the grade allowed or coo^manded, was headed for 
Del Monte. The coolness of the sea shore, with its smooth, 
hard road, was exchanged for heat and dust and the canter and 
trot of our horses for a toilsome walk. Gophers and brown 
squirrels sdlmpered away from us, and now and then a quail 
took flight at our appearance ; but the ''deer which now and 
then bounded across the road*' was in the guide-book maker's 
mind. But we saw several buzzards in lieu. At last we got to 
the top of the mountain and then our coaches got their work 
in, and pushing our horses, with a sort of a turn-about, fair-play 
notion sent them shambling down the north side of the divide* 
Then coach after coach, filled with our upper four-hundred en- 
tered the suburbs ; then through the town of Monterey, next 
by groves and tropical gardens and by mid-afternoon we were on 
our way to San Fraqcisco. 

I made a second visit to the historic town and surroundings 
of Monterey ; mainly to see El Carmelo Mission, four miles 
away over the hills. There being no coaches running on my 
arrival I hired a livery team at Pacific Grove to take me thence. 
My driver was a young Mexican with a high sounding Castillian 
name which I have forgotten, but I will call him Francisco de 
Carillo. He was proud of his descent on his father's side and 
also, on the score of progressiveness, that his mother was an 
American. It might have been a common every day name ; if 
30, the matrimonial laws of our country beautified it with 
Carillo. He talked fair English ; was a good lay figure to try 
my faulty Spanish on, and did not know the succession of the 
months, but was quite conceited. He, likQ a good many others 
of greater pretensions, fell back on his family name to cover 
any sins of omission. The round price he charged for his out- 
fit was laid to the Del Monte people who would have ibrbiddep 
him the '' Drive," if he cut prices. Through tfafi ot(} towii agaiA 



CAUPORNIA RBYI9ITED. l^ 

and ovet- the last of the seventeen-mile drive and from the hill^ 
top a beautiful view came before us, El Carmelo Valley » onc« 
filled with flocks and herds, in the prosperous days of the Mis-^ 
sion there established. In 1825 there roamed over the meadow! 
and hills along the Carmel river, 87,600 cattle, 1800 horses, 365 
yoke of oxen and 54,000 sheep belonging to El Carmelo Mis- 
sion. Secularization took place ten years afterwards, when de- 
struction smote these flocks and herds. The cattle were killed 
for their hides ; the horses ran away ; the sheep scattered among 
the foot hills and mountains ; the Indians, uncared for, mostly 
resumed their savage life; the priests fled and the noble church 
and homes of hundreds of converts went to ruin. Much of the 
valley is now owned by a wealthy widow, Mrs. Hatton, who has 
a milk ranch and supplies Monterey and the Hotel Del Monte 
with that needed fluid. The railroad possessions hereabouts 
are in tens of thousands of acres. We crossed an iron pipe 
which comes from a stream in the Santa Lucia mountain on the 
other side of the Carmel Valley, and running to the top of the 
hills back of Monterey carries water to a reservoir which sup- 
plies that town as well as Del Monte. The Southern Pacific 
owns this water plant through a sub-corporation. 

Down a steep hill went Francisco and his fare at a rattling 
pace, and turning a shoulder of the hill the Mission of San 
Carlos Borromeo arose before us in impressive outlines. Nearly 
all the surrounding buildings were in ruins ; some in standing 
walls; some mere heaps of clay; remains of tile-covered dwell- 
ings which in 1835, when the Mission neared abandonment, 
sheltered 236 people, and which in prosperous days homed 
many more. The first Mission was founded in 1770 at Monte- 
rey. Here the good Padre Serra built a rude chapel of boughs, 
planted a cross and ringing his bells, swinging from a live-oak 
belfry, cried aloud towards the hills of Loma, to the gentiles 
supposed to be there lurking to come forth and be baptized and 
b€ made good Christian men and women, as Was the custom* 



128 TO MONTEREY. 

Then while holy incense still filled the air the doughty leather- 
girt soldiers fired a cannon and a score of arquebusses and their 
commander took possession of the fair valley and rim of hills in 
the name of the King of Spain. 

Then the glad tidings from throats of limb-swung bells, fire 
arms and pious padres having gone forth, the next step was to 
reap the harvest by gathering in the gentiles. These were 
harmless folk, but scary withal at the sounds so unusual in these 
wilds ; so the good Father Juniperra Serra, with his assistant, 
Father Crespi, were fain to supplement these noises with per- 
sonal efforts to hunt up the heathen, and when found, to use 
persuasive gestures and gifts of bright calicoes and trinkets to 
win them to the church. They soon had a crowd of converts. 
How they understood one another we know not, but there 
seemed to be a mutual understanding that wrought good, and 
hundreds of the simple-minded savages would be found around 
them. Then followed the pastoral age — California's half cen- 
tury of Romance ! 

The soldiers at the Monterey Presideio were working harm 
among the Indians for there were many bad fellows, convicts, 
released if they would fight lor the King, and the like, among 
the temporal defenders of the Cross, so, six months after the 
founding of the Mission on the shores of Monterey Bay, the 
Fathers led their dusky flock over the hill to the Carmelo val- 
ley, which they knew to be a goodly place, well watered and 
stocked with rich grasses, and in the mountain streams were 
salmon in good numbers. Here a chapel, houses and a corral 
were built, with a rough stockade around the whole to protect 
the converts and their few cattle ; the nucleus of the large herds 
which afterwards pastured these meadows ; for there were bad, 
thieving Indians among the mountains. 

The year 177 1 was a troublous one to El Carmelo. The 
crops failed, and it was only by the game killed in the adjoin* 



CALIFORNIA REVISITED. 1 29 

ing ranges that starvation was kept off. As creature comforts 
had much to do with the religious fervor of the Indians there 
were lapses from grace among them ; conversions ceased and 
sadness came over the hearts of the friars. But by next year 
things had changed for the better. The rich soil, through more 
rainfall, gave forth an hundred fold of grains, roots and grasses ; 
priest and neophyte were made happy and the increasing flocks 
and herds grew fat and sleek. From 1815 to 1820 was the era 
of prosperity and romance among the California Missions and 
Carmel was no exception. The better class of Spanish emigra- 
tion tended towards Monterey which was growing to import- 
ance. The Yankee trading ships were beginning their visits, 
and coasting up and down the line of Missions which connected 
San Diego with Dolores were exchanging trinkets and church 
adornments, calico, velvet and broad-cloths, at unheard of profits 
for common place hides and tallow. I saw bells in old towers 
with the Boston trade-mark on them, thus exchanged, side by 
side with those from Old Spain, presented by the pious and the 
transfer of the widow's mite, for the Catholics in the Mother 
country were full of zeal towards the conversion of the heathen 
savages of the New World, and the money for that purpose was 
for years kept up by what was known as the Pious Fund ; the 
donation of rich and poor. The dates on these bells were as 
inharmonious as their tones, for those from Yankee land had 
not much precious metal in their composition. To think of 
those clanging pendants of the age- worn belfries being bartered 
for pelts and grease ! But the balance of trade must at times 
have been in favor of the Carmel Mission. We read that in 
1825 it had $40,000, in specie, in connection with its burial on a 
rumor that a pirate was seen from the head lands of the bay, 
pointing in. 

To read the doings of the pastoral period of California is 
soothing to the senses in these days of ceaseless rush and 
scramble, when the motto is, the de'el take the one who can't 



I JO to MONTVREV, 

get to the front The home government had not then thought 
of interference and the Fathers went on as it so pleased them ; 
converting, sowing, reaping. Small events were magnified in 
the general lack of excitement. The landing of a trading vessel 
at the embareadero ; the baptism of some hitherto recalcitrant 
chief, which meant the accession of his tribe to the church ; the 
marriage of some Jose to his Josepha; the arrival of a bishop; 
all were events of note. They were prosperous times ; there 
were abundance of crops and converts and the friars waxed 
sleek as the cattle. Critics say the lasso was used to bring In- 
dians into the folds of the church ; that they were fattened for 
work the same as the oxen and mules they drove, and not for 
humane reasons ; that their religion was a farce, being rewarded 
for the repetition of a prayer or the catechism answers by a 
piece of meat, as dogs for tricks ; that the'priests were knaves 
and the converts shams. But too many of these defamers were 
the descendants of those who profited by the robbery of Mis- 
sion lands and wanted some pretexts whereby their consciences 
might be eased, or were religious bigots. We would rather be- 
lieve those disinterested historians who show the Mission priests 
as honest, self-sacrificing men and that, if the Indians were serfs, 
they were far better off than when roaming the forests and 
deserts. We know the results of the breaking up of the Mis- 
sions. It was a struggle between government officials as to 
who would get the biggest share of lands and cattle, while the 
Indian converts, bewildered by the strange proceedings and see- 
ing their abandonment on the expulsion of the priests, returned 
to their old Jiaunts and many of them, from example, became 
cattle and horse thieves, as the whites, only on a smaller scale. 
Now from causes, discreditable to their alleged betters the Cali- 
fornia aborigines are almost extinct. That the old condition of 
things could not continue is evident, for, in the marc)i of Pro- 
gress, the weak of humanity must succumb to the streag i but 



CALIVpliPilA REVISITED. IJI 

let net the motives of the Mission founders be traduced in mak- 
ing excuses for those who drove them from power. 

But let me get back to my Castillian Jehu whom I left on the 
hill slope as we caught sight of the San Carlos Mission, while I 
have been making historical divergence. We finished our 
journey and while he hunted up the sexton I looked around 
among the ruined buildings, but found all but two or three 
nothing but piles of weather-dissolved bricks. Those standing 
were 

Windowless, doorless, roofless — 
Nothing but gaping walls, 

and suggestive of sad feelings, which the massive Mission 
church, towering above them in desolate grandeur, only in- 
creased. This was no common adobe, but was built of dressed, 
yellow colored stone from a neighboring quarry ; the lime used 
in the mortar from burned sea-shells. The building was i8o 
by 70 feet, the front width including two flanking towers. The 
belfry was twenty feet square and to the dome-summit, on which 
was a cross, was ninety feet. In the rear was a wing which I 
heard a clerical alarmist say was once a branch Inquisition. 
The building was fine in its proportions, and the front, with the 
arched windows in its towers and solid masonry looked like a 
Moorish castle. In its isolated grandeur El Carmelo was the 
most impressive building I saw on the coast. 

Finally the Portugese sexton's boy came up and opening the 
door stood with out-stretched, itching palm to take his fee. 
Two or three other tourists ^ho had lately arrived went in with 
me. We found the walls mouldy and bare of pictures and or- 
naments; in fact church service is held here but once a year; 
perhaps to hold title to the property ; in fact there is no con- 
gregation. There are no pews and the floor is mainly the o}f] 
tiles. A rough altar rail fronts the pulpit, and between the two 
is what looks like ^ sarcophagus. Visitors dare net go beyoa^ 



132 TO MONTEREY. 

the railing for such is sacrilege in the mind of the sexton, and 
he is respected. 

A tablet beside the altar on the wall gives the interesting in- 
formation that buried under the floor are the bones of four of 
the most distinguished Fathers of the California Missions : 
Juniperra Serra, who died in 1774 ; Juan Crespi in 1782 ; Julian 
Lopez in 1797, and Francisco Lascuen in 1803. Their place of 
burial was lost sight of for a long time, but some old documents 
were found that induced the church officials at Monterey to 
make a search. The Mission had long been deserted, the roof 
had fallen in and rank weeds were growing through the floor ; 
but taking up the tiles there were shown four large 'slabs which 
unmistakably marked the resting place of the Padres who lost 
their lives in their efforts to save the souls of the red gentiles. 
There were niches around the chapel for images and relics, and 
a semi-circular projection from the wall like' an oriole window, 
with steps leading thereto. Another tablet, over a cross and 
picture of a heart had the words in Latin, "Oh, Heart of Jesus, 
ever burning and shining, kindle and illumine mine with thy 
divine love — Angels and Saints let us praise the Heart of 
Jesus!" This was in the gloomy basement of the belfry. In 
the tower opposite was a steep winding stair-way of solid 
masonry leading to the loft. Here was a stained glass window, 
on which was represented the Cross, Crown of Thorns, Heart, 
Saint Peters Mitre and Keys and Sacred Hammer and Nails. 
The adjoining room in the tower, not having been repaired, was 
unsafe and visitors were not allowed therein. A glance at the 
large audience room below, eighty years ago thronged with 
dusky worshippers on regular occasions, and a scene of brilliant 
ceremonies calculated to please or awe their simple minds and 
I descended the stair-way to the vestibule where I found all 
gone but the watchful Portugese sexton. Hunting up Fran- 
cisco I was soon on my way from this sad, romantic spot and 
journeying across the mountains to Monterey. 



CALiroltMlA REVISITED. 



^3 



My driver had only promised to take me to the Mission but, 
doubtless impressed with the high charges of his employer, he 
offered to make out the day, so we drove around the streets of 
the sleepy old town and amid the tropical beauty and grandeur 




of the park of the Hotel Del Monte. The ribbon beds of foli- 
age plants; flowers of all colors and climes, arranged in every 
attractive way; roses, heliotropes, tulips, crocuses and callas 



Ij4 TO lt9NT£llfiyi 

meet us at evwy hand; Then the plants re{iellant to the touch ; 
to be seen Unci not handled, cacti iti all its prickly variations^ 
''devil's pincliskions/' bristling stalks like elongated caterpillar^) 
huge century-flbtnts and prickly pears interspersed with spread- 
ing palms. These abounded; then came rare decidious and 
evergreen trees and shrubbery^ with winding walks and be- 
wildering mazes and bridle paths and carriage drives parting 
them to the right and to the left. In the midst was a lake with 
fountain and boats. None the less attractive was the attraction 
made wholly by hand — the Hotel itself, but I will let that pass. 
I had thought that the coming night I would take mine ease at 
that inn ; but the "gentlemanly clerk/' perhaps from seeing 1 
had no baggage, or from intuitive knowledge of my sleeping 
and eating capacities set a price on me which lost him a guest. 
So I passed out from the grand corridors of the palatial tavern 
and entering the buggy of my awaiting Francisco was soon 
back to Monterey. 

The wooded hills above it ; the Bay with its curving lines 
and bright waves, the streets flanked with alternations of mod- 
ern buildings, ancient tiled adobes and ruined walls renewed my 
former impressions of Monterey and I was glad to be there 
again. We drove across the head of the Cove where Father 
Juniperra landed in the long ago and which is marked by a tall, 
white cross, and above it, crowning a hill, the costly granite 
monument to his memory built by the widow of Leland Stan- 
ford. This represents the leader of the Mission Fathers stand- 
ing in a boat in which lies a cross; in one hand a crucifix, the 
other raised to heaven in benediction. The inscription reads 
" Here June 3d, 1770, landed Rev. Juniperra Serra, order of St. 
Francis, who founded the following Missions : San Diego, Au- 
gust 16, 1769; San Antonio de Padua, July 14, 1771 ; San 
Gabriel, September 8, 1771 ; San Luis Obispo, September 1% 
1772; San Francisco de Dolores, October 9^ 1776; San Juan 
Capistrano^ November i, 1776; Santa Clara^ January 18, ij^77; 



CALIFORNIA REVISITED. 135 

San Buenaventura, March 21, 1782. and died August 28. I784» 
at San Carlos Mission, Carmelo Valley. This monument was 
erected by Jane L. Stanford in 1 891, in memory of Father 
Juniperra Serra; a philanthropist seeking the welfare of the 
humblest; a hero daring and always ready to sacrifice himself 
for the welfare of his fellow beings ; a faithful servant of his 
Master.'' The pose of the statue, the magnitude, workmanship 
and general design, and its position on a suburban hill, over- 
looking the Bay from which the good priest landed make this a 
prominent and impressive landmark of Monterey. 

Among Eastern tourists interested in the Spanish Missions, 
the varying attributes of enthusiasm and bigotry, not but what 
they are sometimes found in one person, were sometimes con- 
spicuous. Some saw in the remains of the twenty-one estab* 
lishments scattered along the coast, three or four restored; but 
mainly in ruins, the work of self-sacrificing Christian Mis- 
sionaries, willing to lay down their lives, as several did, that the 
souls of the heathen might be saved, and who incidentally 
spread a semi-civilization over a land where savagery had 
hitherto held sway. Others saw in these monks the tools of the 
Arch-enemy, whose work it had been to spread a cruel reli- 
gion ; making beasts of burden of its converts, who had best 
have remained heathen than had their souls saved wrong fash- 
ion ; greedily pocketing the tithes, and as much more as they 
dared, of the plunder they turned over to the King; and that 
the architectural monuments they left behind them are no more 
to their credit than the temples along the Nile are to the cruel 
taskmasters of Egypt, who robbed their slaves of the labor which 
built them. 

After coming back to Monterey I met a reverend gentleman 
whom I had seen on his way to El Carmelo. He was undoubt- 
edly a good man ; but I was speaking about two attributes held 
by tourists. Well, his was not enthusiasm. I am not a crank ; 
no one admits he is ; but I have been much interested in the 



136 TO MONTEREY. 

Spanish Missions in California. My several allusions, and, per^ 
haps, repetitions show that. Others besides myself have been 
so, or else the literature devoted to it has been put forth to 
vacancy. The Indian question and early California history are 
to a large extent connected with those religious enterprises 
along the borders of the Pacific coast. I was much interested in 
the Carmelo Mission from its former prosperity to its present 
desolation, and supposed the gentleman alluded to was as much 
impressed, or he would not have gone so much out of his way; 
but I learned he had merely paid it a perfunctory visit ; his 
errand being to look for strange fish in the adjacent waters of 
Carmel bay. He broke in on my remarks " Did you see that 
rear wing ?'* I did. "And the little window and the grated 
door ?" I confessed to the window but ignored the door. 
"Well, that was a dungeon where the priests imprisoned here- 
tics.'* I tried to convince him of his error and to impress him 
with the good the Fathers had done ; telling him of the labors 
of those missionaries whose bones lay under the tiles of the 
church. But the robes of the Scarlet Lady so blinded his eyes 
he could see no good in connection with her, so he shrugged 
his shoulders and said " I know all about that !" Then I told him 
about the lott and the window of stained glass with its pictures ; 
but they were Papist pictures ; so he wisely asked " Do you 
know how many of those prisoners from the dungeon they 
took up there and cut their heads off?" I could not answer, 
then he ran on to his fish-fad, and told me about a devil-fish he 
caught in the Bay; a real devil-fish such as Hugo wrote about 
— only not so large ; and so there came a parting of the ways. 

Apropos to this, a stroll around the Monterey fish-wharf was 
interesting. Some of the fishermen were getting ready for 
their nightly catch of sardines wherewith they would tempt the 
luscious salmon in the morning ; their boats being in readiness 
at the landing. Others were mending their nets, or sauntering 
around. They were mainly Portugese, and to see them with 



CALIFORNIA REVISITED. 137 

their water-side togs ; seamen's boots and clothing correspond- 
ing ; with their flowing whiskers, the traditional corsair of the 
" low, raking craft" was suggested : 

With a kerchief on his head, 

All a dyed a bloody red, 
And a pistol bulging boldly from each hip, 

And a cutlass in each hand ; 

With his gizzard full of sand, 
And his whiskers spraying out from jowl and lip ; 

While he loudly raves and roars. 

Till he scares the fish in scores ; 
Scudding Northward, scudding Southward from the ship. 

But mine was meek and mild 

As any nursing child. 
As he listened, and I questioned on the quay 

Of the catching of the whale. 

That could kill you with his tail. 
And the sardine, so different in his weigh. 

The Pacific Whaling Company, a corporation doing as much 
towards the annihilation of its prey as did the merciless hunter 
of the Plains to making the Bison a thing of the past, has ren" 
dering cauldrons here which annually "do-up" twenty to thirty 
whales. These are sometimes eighty feet long, but are not of 
a kind to yield much oil. The fishing is not on the old lines, 
where so much pluck was required, and it is more revolting. 
While some of the whalers go out with harpoon and gun in 
large whale boats, others mount the head-lands of the coast, and 
with field-glasses look out for spouters. When a "find" is made 
these signal to the boatmen who bear down on the monster of 
the brine. The first thing to do, when near enough, is to har- 
poon the whale; the next to bring a whale- gun to bear on him 
and kill him with dynamite. This my coarse-hair friend said 
was a nice thing to do ; of course not for the whale. If fired at 
right angles the bomb would go through the fish and explode 
in the water beyond ; if at too slight an angle it would glance 
off; so it must be fired just right and burst before traversing the 
luckless fish. The bomb is eighteen inches long and but one 
inch in diameter; but is a murderous affair. The reason the 



138 TO MONTEREY. 

harpoon is attached first to the whale is that he sinks after the 
bomb explodes and by the harpoon-line can be towed ashore. 
I thought this a very cruel sport, but lost no time arguing with 
my pirate. The whalers are mainly Portugese; eighteen of 
whom make a gang. Business is dull with them, thanks to 
their cruel bombs, which are scaring away the schools of 
whales which used to frequent that coast. An eighty-foot 
whale will yield sixty barrels of oil. This once sold at 60 
cents per gallon ; now it is but 20 to 30 cents. Substitutes for 
whale-bones have so multiplied that it also has fallen off in 
price; so my fisher-friend took a gloomy view of whaling. 

I suppose there were one hundred fishing boats around the 
wharf ready to put to sea the following morning for salmon. 
The bait is caught the previous evening. The boats come in 
about noon, when the catch is at once expressed to San Fran- 
cisco. The salmon-fishers realize eight cents per pound for 
their product. The largest weigh forty or fifty pounds each. 

There is a shell-fish called the Abilone ; formerly plentiful 
about Monterey, but pot-hunting, Japanese fishermen have 
made them scarce. This is often six inches or more across, 
three inches deep, and shaped like half a clam. It is full of 
meat and clings to the rocks. The native fishermen get them 
with tongs ; but the Japanese are driving them from business 
with new ways. These Asiatic Yankees have a diving rig 
whereby they go down and remain long enough to fill a sack 
with these uni-valves, which they detach from the rocks with a 
heavy knife. They are naturally despised by the easy going 
Portugese. The shells of the Abilone when scraped are capable 
of a fine polish, while some are decorated, and all find a ready 
sale to tourists. Large quantities are sent to France for the 
manufacture of pearl buttons, while the flesh is dried and goes 
to China. Owing to the destructive fishing the Abilone will 
soon go the way of pre-historic extinct things. 

Among memento-hunting tourists was the "fad'' of buying 



CALIFORNIA REVISITED. 1 39 

the worn-nets of fishermen. While these would be in process 
of repairs you would see the fine ladies of Del Monte dallying 
around the swart fishermen seeking purchases. They were 
wanted for decorating windows, or inside curtains, for long use 
has given them an old-gold hue which delighted the blaze, 
aesthetic eye. To see the well dressed ladies among these 
picturesque toilers of the sea was like a scene from the opera of 
Masionella. 

Monterey is a health resort ; in some cases a last resort. The 
sight of those in the last stages of consumption, fighting off 
death, is pathetic. At the foot of the wharf stairway, fishing, I 
saw a lady of this class passing away the sunset hour, accom- 
panied by a lad from her boarding house. Her face showed 
she was marked for the dreaded journey to the dim beyond, 
but she had the hopefulness of her kind. The shadows length- 
ened by the setting sun as it sank below the distant head-lands 
of the bay seemed typical of her near future. 

I staid over night at a sea-side tavern ; by no means up to 
the Del Monte standard. There were no gardens of flowers, 
groves of palms, nor rare trees ; but it was surrounded by 
scenes of great interest from the wave-lapped shore to the 
suburbs of tile-roofed houses and oflicial buildings of the old 
regime, and instead of paying two dollars for supper and lodg- 
ing you got for half that sum an additional meal. Several fel- 
low tourists stopped there; I may add in self-justification. I 
slept on the first floor, and as the window was open, and no 
fasteners on the sash, and water-side characters within easy 
hail, I went to the landlord for protection. He told me not to 
fear; all around were honest; but gave me a stick to hold 
down the sash. My light was the primitive tallow-dip our 
fathers used. Well, this was different from my last stop at 
Monterey, at the palatial Del Monte, with its electric lights, fine 
bed rooms, high li%ring and French waiters! As morning was 
coming I arose, and lighting my candle, finished my notes of 



140 TO MONTEREY. 

the previous day's happenings and took a stroll through the 
streets. I some how could not get enough of the quaint town ; 
but the best of friends must part, and taking an early morning 
train for San Francisco I was soon leaving rearward the Carmel 
Mission, the beautiful bay and town of Monterey, and the curi- 
ous people of land and wave there belonging ; but their memory 
will long have my mind for their habitat. 

As I came up the valleys, which followed one another, the 
same busy scenes were re-enacted I noticed going South ; and 
more. I saw plowing by steam ; an engine on each side of a 
field with a cable winding around drums to draw a gang of 
plows back and forth, while the ** headers/' threshers and balers 
were still busy as before. 

For a while the heat was intense, but as we came to the bay 
of San Francisco the air grew cooler until we were obliged to 
put on our overcoats ; so does the temperature vary. As we 
neared the city hundreds of wind-mills came in view, swifter 
running as the wind increased, and pumping their tanks full for 
the morrow's irrigation. These grounds were the pastures of 
the Mission Dolores ; the lands near by being too sandy for 
grass. Numerous Chinese raise vegetables on this tract, which 
is divided in small fields, over which the greatest care in culti- 
vation is exercised. The surface is quite uneven and on the 
steep slopes of the ravines we see all kinds of truck rankly 
growing, from frequent watering, in strong contrast with the 
sand-hills above the level of the tanks. Through the suburbs 
and we are at the depot, scattering towards our temporary 
homes. 




Galifernia Revisited. 



VI n. 



^Found San jFan?i|?o Bay. 

Happy the man who visits youthful scenes, 

O'er which two scores of changing years have rolled^ 

And from his long<^life visit comfort gleans 
From face or landscape which he knew of old,. 

Forms, once familiar, dead or moved away ; 
Those found, unsympathetic, rudely stare, 

The home torn down, rebuilt or in decay. 

The trees you loved removed ; the wood-lands bare— ^ 
You cease your useless quest and homeward fare.. 

OR years, while anticipating my revisitation of Call- 
' fornia the following in the wake of my tramp in search 
of work, in company with my comrade "Scottie," was 
in my mind. The journey was seventy miles and it was eight 
days before our ends were accomplished, and I had faith that 
between livery teams, railroads and steamers I would follow it 
up but as "Obidah the son of Obensinah, who left the Carivan- 
serai early in the morning" planned such a series of travels and 
" lived and died within the walls of Bagdad/' so did my designs 
come far short of fulfillment. 

(141) 




142 AROUND SAN FRANCISCO BAY. 

My first strike was for the Ranch in the Petaluma Valley 
where in tribulation I tried farming, California fashion. Cross- 
ing the Tiberon ferry I went by rail to Petaluma, passing 
Lakeville on the opposite side of the Petaluma river ; the sea- 
port of my old home. This involved a walk back of eight 
miles, but I found a good natured wagoner, two miles on my 
way, who took me in. He was a son of an old time neighbor* 
When I say our ranch was of 1400 acres, and the surrounding 
tracts averaged about the same the reader will know what a 
California neighbor meant. His name was Stewart and he was 
ostensibly glad of my company, I know I was glad of his ; for 
the sun was glaring down, as only it can in these hill-locked 
valleys. It was hay harvest and much of the oats being cut the 
stackers were busy at work. The "oat-hay" was dragged by a 
huge rake, which holds a ton, to the rick. Here is a derrick 
and swung from this are claws which gather up a half ton, and 
horse-power puts it on the rick. Sometimes a horse with broadt 
wooden shoes is put on the hay to tramp it, and to see him 
wearily walking around gives one "that tired-feeling." When 
the rick nears completion a load of hay is dumped to ease his 
fall and he is pushed off. Contractors rick hay for 25 cents per 
ton. The farmers, who in my time wasted manure, now save it, 
and supplement it on wheat with land plaster, the only ferti- 
lizer used, at a cost of 55 cents per acre. The fencing was split, 
red wood shucks, nailed to poles; making a rough, unsightly 
enclosure. Wire is now taking its place. My friend kept forty 
co^s and sold his milk at 70 cents a hundred pounds. Farmers 
here were complaining of their lot as elsewhere. 

Arriving at my friend's home I started on a two mile journey 
over the hills. Those who don't know the nature of the smaller 
ridges dividing the valleys which, like the points of a star-fish, 
radiate from the bay of San Francisco, must be told they are a 



CALIFORNIA REVISITED. 143 

series of domes with gulches winding between them ; some- 
times so channeled that cattle cannot cross them. They are 
bare of trees and covered with natural, wild oats pasture, so 
slippery one can hardly climb the slopes. To cross such a 
range without a compass one easily loses his way. The ranch 
buildings where I passed most of my California days at las^ 
came in sigrht, but there was little semblance to those of old* 
The house had been burned down the preceding winter ; two 
large, weather beaten cow barns had been built, and two tenant 
houses. These last were occupied by Portugese. The barn, 
which in my time lodged the horses and hired men, was the 
only building to remind me of old times. I looked at the 
weather seamed and blistered structure where we spent our 
evenings talking of our old life on the plains or grumbling 
about our present times. Nothing but black ashes marked the 
spot where stood the house ; a sad sight and a disappointing 
one, for I had expected to get a more or less square meal here. 
Much of our labor was spent in setting out an orchard, but from 
neglect these trees were stunted and the evergreens near the 
house were scorched by the late fire, and faded red. I felt a 
second Marius at the ruins of Carthage, with no very pleasant 
thoughts. I went to the old spring on the hill-side where I and 
my gray horse *'Tom" repaired with our barrel-sled every morn- 
ing for the diurnal water supply, and here I would get a drink; 
but alas ! the spring was burned up as well as the house. The 
summer sun of California was too much for it. Great cracks 
seamed the black adobe soil which one could stick his hand in, 
and I turned away sadly from the waterless spring. I looked 
for the vineyard I helped set out ; the Phyloxera, or some other 
high sounding named pest — or perhaps sheer neglect — had 
killed off all but four or five vines. The fences I worked so 
hard on were gone. The prairie soil we reclaimed with plow 
and seed through much labor had relapsed to its natural condi- 
tion and a hundred cattle were pasturing thereon. The Portu- 



144 AROUND SAN FRANCISCO BAY. 

gese woman I enquired of concerning the former owner could 
not understand me, and looked on me with suspicion, as did the 
men when they came home from their work at noon, and as I 
wandered from house to spring ; from orchard to vineyard, they 
doubtless wondered what manner of man this was, and mayhap 
thought I needed watching. 

That my visit was a disappointing one is easily seen. The 
season was winter when I was here before, and from frequent 
rains every thing was bright and green ; the buildings were new 
and fresh painted. Now the earth was parched and blistered, 
the pasture faded, the house burned down, the spring dry. My 
head ached and I was tired with a long walk over the slippery 
hills, and generally disgusted. So ended my visit to my ranch 
home. 

My next object was Sonoma, eight miles farther on and un- 
der a blazing sun which made my head ache the more, and over 
a dusty road which kept me tired, I started from my old home. 
This way "Scottie" and I tramped on our search for work and I 
returned over it on my homeward way. My comrade left the 
ranch before I did and here was the hill I saw him disappear 
behind, never to see him more. To my left arose the divide 
with its sides dotted or covered with live-oaks and yellow with 
oats pasture. In front stretched one of the county roads pecu- 
liar to the state. This, in my time, was a natural track con- 
forming to the surface ; with bridgeless gullies, and slanting to 
the verge of upsetting wagons ; while in winter it was almost 
impassable for mire. Now it was piked with gravel and was 
the leading road from Petaluma to Napa. In the South, and 
nearer the bay, such roads are kept sprinkled, for there the rain- 
less months make the best of them dusty. This road was not 
much traveled and the community was too poor to keep it 
watered. My choice lay between the dust and the varied 
weeds flanking the road. Canada thistle, dog-fennel, dock and 
a pest called the tar-weed alternated. I became as much dis- 



CALIFORNIA REVISITED. 1 45 

gusted with this last as did Pumblechook in **Great Expecta. 
tions/* with his particular brand of Tar. I was made aware of 
its presence by its disagreeable odor and eventually by the 
stickiness of my clothing coming in contact with it. It bears a 
bright, yellow blossom ; but that don't help matters. "A Tar- 
weed on the roadside bank a Tar-weed was to me and nothing 
more.'' I noticed the noses of cattle and horses brown and 
sticky with its contact while pasturing artiong it. The poison- 
oak is another pest for which special remedies are prepared, the 
merits of which glare from advertising boards in large letters 
the same as dyspepsia and con$umption-cures with us. 

The stranger coming to the forks of a road in a thinly settled 
country like this is at a loss what to do ; whether to cut across 
country a mile or two to the nearest house and enquire, or to 
takes his chances and go on. Tired, dust covered and sticky 
with tar-weed I came to such a dilemma. Traveling the differ- 
ent paths of religion we are comforted with the thought that all 
converge on the Happy Land ; but reverse the matter and 
what ? You may find yourself in any one of the cranky ways 
which calls itself religion. To make a practical illustration 
might not the dusty, tar-weed scented highway I was on lead 
to vagueness ? But look ahead ; there, near the roadside, 
looms up a small building ! A nearer approach shows it a 
school house. But it must be vacation time, as in the East; 
then it will avail me nothing. But they go a little by con- 
traries here ; the vacation is at another season. The school 
house is open, and within I hear the buzz of childish voices and 
the accented tones of the teacher in words of command or in- 
struction. So I move around to the door, rap on the jambs, 
and the teacher, who is an Irish girl, leaves her charge of a 
dozen embodiements of ideas she is teaching lessons in gunnery 
and comes to the door with a startled look. I tell her mv 
dilemma; she regains her school room assurance and says 
I am on the right read to Sonoma. Then I ask about the 



146 AROUND SAN FRANCISCO BAY. 

school, the salaries paid the teachers in the section and finally 
tell her that when at home I am a school director. She bears 
the imformation stoically. I think after some manifestations 
of confusion she will ask me in, when would come, after the 
usual preliminaries, **Would you like to say something to the 
pupils ?" Then, " Now children, look me right in the eye ! Be 
good to your teacher. Remember if she whips you it is for your 
own good and it hurts her more than you. I come like other 
wise men from the East. There is no Snow nor Ice there. Do 
you know what Snow and Ice is ? That bright little lad in the 
corner has his hand up," and so on. But, I was not asked in. 
In fact I think the little school lady was glad when my back 
was turned. I was not young, I was dust-grimed, stickey 
and scented with tar-weed. I noticed some things suggestive 
of a thinly settled country ; a horse shed, for the ponies the 
children rode to school, and some bicycles. I saw but one 
school house in fifteen miles on this leading road and only one 
other building ; an old roadside tavern. The last forty years 
had changed that part of California but little. 

Just after leaving the school house my ears were greeted with 
the rattle of a vehicle, and shuffling through the dust, I saw a 
team of horses drawing a light wagon driven by a youth, with a 
dog on the seat beside him. The hot sun, tar and dust were 
f^- doing me up, and as the team came along side I hailed the Jehu 

commanding, and asked him to act Samaritan for my especial 
benefit, to which he willingly agreed. So I climbed in his 
wagon, the dog getting back to make room for me, and we 
went on our way. 

The young man was the son of a widow who lived in Sono- 
ma. They ran a chicken ranch, and he had been to Petaluma 
with a load of live poultry. As usual I obtained all the in- 
formation I could of him in reference to the country and peo- 
ple's ways, and found him an easy victim, as we shambled 
through the heat and dust. 



CALIFORNIA REVISITED. 147 

It was not long before we drove up to the old tavern spoken 
of; known to me of old as the " Pike County House," as a com- 
pliment to the Missouri Pikers settled around. It is now loaded 
with the fancy name of El Laurel, as a compliment to the laurels 
we don't see. It is a lonesome place; but picturesque, withal, 
in its shade ol pepper trees. The trunk of one of these was 
eight feet across and its foliage shaded a water-tank which sup- 
plied a horse-trough. No "Ostler Jo" appeared, so my driver 
turned on the spigot and watered his thirsty ponies, which, 
with their tar-stained noses down deep in the trough, greedily 
drank their fill, the while we went in the tavern and the inner 
man refreshed. I remembered this place well, for in sight of it 
I was once " held up," in the sense of being asked to lend a 
fellow tramp a dollar when I was in no condition to refuse him. 
The Pike County House at that time had not the best reputa- 
tion. 

The horses watered, my driver, Walter, and myself, not for- 
getting the white dog, mounted our open barouche and re- 
sumed our way across the undulating country, where land was 
plenty and homes so few. For miles before reaching Sonoma 
five people own the land. Senator Fair has 5000 acres, Senator 
Jones, of Nevada, 15,000 more; the last reclaimed along Sono- 
ma creek by levees. Fair raises horses, but the main part of 
the large tract was idle. There were other immense estates in 
a similar condition. There were.no cross-roads, but once in a 
while a wagon-track led from the main road to some unseen 
ranch buildings. I expected to see this part of the land cut up 
into prosperous farms. No wonder school houses were scarce. 
We at last got to the Sonoma suburbs where Walter lived, and 
unloading his crates and dog, a knowing dog he was in his 
master's mind, my friend took me riding around the town. 
This was a great favor to me and no cross to my young friend, 
who was an easy going lad. We drove around the old Plaza, 
where last year the fiftieth anniversary of the hoisting of the 



148 AROUND SAN FRANCISCO BAY. 

Bear Flag was celebrated in fine style. Four of the old timers 
had lived to take part in the festivities. We saw the home of 
General Vallejo, where two of his daughters live ; the old adobe 
church, and tottering remains of Mission buildings with their 
tiled roofs; once presentable and on church days filled with 
dusky worshippers. A cactus hedge twelve feet high, which 
thwarted my path attracted my attention in more than one way; 
for a rent it tore in my raiment, almost as great as "that the 
envious Casca made," make me remember it. This happened 
while crawling through it in search for a human land-mark. 

A curiosity of the town, and the land-mark alluded to, was 
Vicente Carillo — Bassanty Carreeyo — a, Mexican Indian, 108 
years old by his own admission. There are times when we 
minimize our ages ; there are others when we brag about our 
antiquity. Vicente was of the last, and I thought him justified. 
Walter put me on his track and aided by the town mayor — fifty 
years ago he would have been the alcalde — Senor Eugenio 
Robien, we at last run the old fox to cover. The mayor had 
married a niece of Carillo, was more or less identified with this 
town property, and was quite jolly and sociable. Vicente 
looked his years; having all their extreme characteristics. His 
form was bent ; his wrinkles were abysmal ; his tongue pro- 
truded from his toothless gums, and he was a passe, blaze ob- 
ject; but when Alcalde Robien joked him about once having 
two simultaneous wives he gave a grimace which made his 
wrinkles crack and a leer lit up his eyes, and again he was 
a young and gay Lothario. He was one of the first baptized at 
the Mission, and had been a peon or semi-slave, of General 
Vallejo. He was not an appetizing object and thanking Senor 
Robien and Walter for their kindness in showing me the aged 
lion of Sonoma, and places of historic interest, also, I returned 
to my radiating point — San Francisco. 

Another locality, interesting from my former wanderings, was 
the valley of Napa, and although disappointed by the late pil- 



CALIFORNIA REVISITED. 149 

grimage to my old Sonoma home I concluded to make another 
effort. By water and rail in a few hours I reached Napa City, 
the head of navigation of its particular river. The names of 
Petaluma, Napa and Sonoma are each the sponsor of valley, 
town and river, and two of them of counties. At Selby, oppo- 
site Vallejo, are large smelting works where the Klondike gold 
is taken. At Napa, where I stopped to make enquiries, I was 
referred to a son of ex-Governor Boggs, of Missouri, as one to 
give me information of people of forty years ago ; but that is a 
long time in a country of frequently changing people ; so I was 
unsatisfied. He, however, interested me in saying he was with 
the train the Donner party separated from and whose sufferings 
on the California trail I have mentioned. Mr. Boggs conducted 
one of the trains. Against the advice of the rest Donner left 
them for a new route, was delayed and, caught by early snows, 
many perished in the Sierra Nevadas. Younts, one of the res- 
cuing party, lives near Napa. It is related that Younts dreamed 
three nights in succession that there was trouble beyond the 
Sierras, and on the strength of this started with a party, which 
after much suffering found and brought back the survivors. 
I was hunting an old sea-captain who had done me a 
kindness, but it was seeking under difficulties. From one 
to another "old-timer" looking characters I went; gray 
hairs and wrinkles being necessary adjuncts of those 
button-holed ; but there was a vast amount of indifference 
shown ; even when I found a cotemporary resident of Napa. At 
last I thought I was on track of my old sea-faring friend ; but I 
found I must walk to his home, four miles up the valley. This 
might seem interesting as it was over my former route ; but I 
would rather have ridden. Walking tramp-infested roads in a 
lonely country is not pleasant when there is money about you 
and I was glad when I reached my destination, or what I 
thought was it, for the growth of planted timber had so altered 
the looks of the country that I was in doubt ; generally the face 



150 AROUND SAN FRANCISCO BAY. 

of Nature is changed by deforesting ; the reverse was here. 
My first interlocutor was a dog who made a rush for me. Now 
some say the human eye has a quelling effect on assailing ani- 
mals, but a club is a much better deterrent. However, without 
faith in the first and not thinking it policy to use the last I 
made use of strategy to keep off the dog, the while I worked 
my way up to the house. A young woman on the porch was 
enjoying the scene. Under the din of the barking dog I en- 
quired for the captain and a man soon appeared; grum of coun- 
tenance and roughly clad. In a few brief words he told me I 
was on the wrong track, that the particular old-salt I was after 
had lost its savor and gone to Davy Jones two years ago. His 
ranch was the next ; his widow might be living there and she 
might not. This in tones repellant, while the young woman 
stared, and the dog snarled. Says Byron — 

•' 'Tis sweet to hear the watch-dog's honest bark 

Bay deep-mouthed welcome as we draw near home ; 
'Tis sweet to know there is an eye will mark 
Our coming and grow brighter when we come," — 

but the lines are not applicable here. That this dog's bark was 
honest was practically made manifest, and as for his welcome; 
"speeding the parting guest" was read between the lines. 

Having come this far I thought to go farther, and maybe see 
what Mrs. Partington called the "relic" of my sea-faring friend. 
This involved a tiresome walk across fields, with one of those 
"bete noirs" of California pastoral scenery, a threatening bull, 
in the foreground ; but at last, unharmed, I found the place — 
and another dog. But be was asleep, or indisposed, and I 
walked by him to the door. Enquiry of a woman on the back 
steps made known the fact that her mistress had moved away^ 
that none of the family lived there, and that the dog had been 
the captain's favorite, and for this was allowed to live his bor- 
rowed years. I tried to compare him to Argus, and myself to 
his master Ulysses, on his return from his wanderings, but 



CALIFORNIA REVISITED. 



I5t 



miserably failed. The silence, however, which gave consent to 
my trespass was appreciated. 

All this was interesting enough, but the Hamlet I had come 
to see being omitted by circumstances beyond his control, I 
soon left this ranch, and taking a distant view of another I had 
known I turned my back on the place with disappointment, 
and, with the woman staring suspiciously after me, retraced 
my steps to Napa. I took a stroll around this town, of interest 




SCOTTIE AND I. 



to me as being Where "Scottie" and I spent anything but a 
Happy New Year in 1859— and O"'' '^st two "bits." These 
went for as many loaves of bread and we thought them small 
ones. I remember being refused a stable to sleep in, and al- 
lowed the comforts of a straw shed by the relenting owner; 
the seeking of the warmth of the hotel fire; the optical parti- 
cipation in a ball given by the youth and beauty of the town, 



152 AROUND SAN FRANCISCO BAY. 

the adjournment to our out-door sleeping place ; how cold it 
was and our being awakened by our companion roosters in the 
morning. Then the tramp renewed, without breakfast, for 
work; of our hospitable reception by the sea-captain, and our 
journey on. But we were tough young fellows then, and soon 
recovered from mental cares and bodily ailments. Of course 
since the time I was there the town was changed beyond 
recognition, but I was shown the successor to my hotel, which 
had burned down. Our straw shed I could not find and the 
feathered alarm clocks had long since done duty as spring 
chickens. 

Then I went back to San Francisco. 

Here was a land-mark I wished to see and at last found. 
This was the What Cheer House— a noted caravansary in 
the old days. To read of the number of guests accommodated 
and the tons of provisions consumed was amazing. The charge 
for each item on the fare-bill was one ** bit ;'* which might be 
ten cents or fifteen cents according as you offered a dime or a 
quarter. A peculiarity of this restaurant, in a community like 
this, was that there was no bar-room attachment ; and yet the 
owner waxed rich. This was Woodward, later of Woodward's 
Gardens and Pavillion, a suburban resort. At the What 
Cheer " Scottie** and I " mealed," after our coming to San 
Francisco, as long as our funds, resulting from *'spouting** 
some of our "portable property," held out. After this we 
looked in with envy in our hearts at those more favored as 
they partook of the fare whose unit was a bit. Of old this 
was in a respectable part of the town and was the resort of well- 
to-do miners and business men ; now, with the large dining room 
sub-divided for other uses it was patronized by the lower 
classes of diners out. Large brass letters on the pavement 
identified the place ; but a glance in showed a small room 
with a bar and three or four ill-favored tables, and saw-dust 
strewn over the floor. A tramp leaning against the door-way 



CALIFORNIA REVISITED. 153 

looking wistfully in seemed to repeat myself, and I thought of 
the window full of good things; joints of meat, sausages, pies 
and so forth, I once looked on with so much wistfulness and 
nothing for investment — so near and yet so far. I can feel 
that gnawing yet — a most annoying gnawing. I had calcu- 
lated to get another meal there in memory of old times; but 
like Mrs. Gamp *' I couldn't a bear it," for where I of old en- 
vied the diners I now pitied them ; so, sadly turning away, I 
saw another illusion vanished. 

MOUNT TAMILPAIS. 

North and East of San Francisco two isolated peaks are 
seen. Diablo and Tamilpais ; the first most prominent ; but 
the distance and difficulty in reaching its summit bar it from 
being a resort. Mount Tamilpais is easily reached by steamer 
and rail and from its b^se a narrow guage road, whose cars are 
drawn by a specially built engine, twists, squirms and doubles 
on itself till the summit is reached. This is 2600 feet above 
tide water, close by, and was formerly reached by a donkey 
path and climbing trail. In 1896 a railroad was built, eight 
miles long, to reach a point three miles away, and while I 
have been up the Clear Creek Loop at Denver and Pike's Peak 
railway, the Mt. Tamilpais road seemed to exceed them both 
in engineering skill. Ascent by the aid of steam is far prefer- 
able to professional mountain climbing, where the requisites 
are wind, glaciers, alpen-stocks, ice-picks, guides, **guys" and 
guy-ropes; besides it is better to be in a position to tell your 
friends of your excursion events than to be a **damp un- 
pleasant body'* — on ice — at the foot of some unlucky cliff. 
Accompanied by my friend on July 14 I started for the moun- 
tain. Boarding the Saucileto steamer we sped past the islands 
of Goat, Angel and Alcatraz, in full view of the Golden Gate, 
and landed at the terminus of the Mill Valley railroad, which 
in five miles takes us to the foot of the mountain. Here we 
leave the cars and push with Endeavor vim for the **scenic" 
railway. 



154 AROUND SAN FRANCISCO BAY. 

This rush showed the ill-manners of well mannered people. 
The statement seems like a paradox till we remember the 
backward tendencies of mankind when the brakes are loosened. 
Polite society often contains men and women who, out from 
the public eye, do deeds which shame humanity. The doings 
of some " horse company" dinners I have attended, and legis- 
lative banquets and New York French Balls, I have not, where 
turkey-legs are thrown across the table, wine dashed in one 
anothers* faces and other playful acts committed by bucolic or 
urban diners show how home respectability unbends abroad. 
Thus we. Christian people, forgetting early training and the 
head lines of our copy books, clerical and lay passengers, one 
and all, scrambled for the cars as if this would be our last 
chance to reach the Tamilpais summit. 

Our turns came at last and we started on the ascent. From 
the bay the mountain looked barren, but, as we entered its 
recesses, hidden greeness from shrub and tree greeted us. The 
canyon slopes and narrow intervales are wooded with trees 
peculiarly Californian ; red-wood, live-oak, manzanita and 
madrone, as well as laurel, and where there is room small gar- 
dens and orchards are seen. In a nook, near the foot of the 
canyon, are some livery stables, of profit in ante-railroad times; 
but now given the go-by except when some sentimentalist, or 
alarmist at the sharp inward curves, salients and grades of the 
winding track seek a donkey or saddle horse for the ascent. 
Our locomotives were curiosities. The pistons worked at right 
angles with the engine, driving a hinge-jointed shaft on which 
were bevel wheels, "gearing down** to others on the axles. 
The hinge-joint was so the driving shaft could accommodate 
itself to the sharp curves. Two to four cars are drawn. We 
soon leave the canyon and wind in, out and around the abrupt 
shoulders and depressions of the mountain side. Some of the 
radients are as low as fifty feet and nearly all the time ascend- 
ing ; occasional "dips" having to be made. There is a point 



CALIFORNIA REVISITED. 155 

where we can see five parallels, if such crooked lines can be so 
called. At one of the salients the ocean is seen ; next appears 
the curved lines of San Francisco bay ; then the shipping and 
city; the Coast Range and Mount Diablo rising above it. The 
curves and grades scared the nervous, so that the many "O's !" 
reminded one of Ireland. In some of the ravines we saw large 
red-wood trees, and often the beautiful manzanita, with its 
smooth, red bark and glossy leaves. Turning and twisting the 
road swung to the North and at half-past one o'clock we 
stopped at the Tamilpais Tavern. The engine could drag us 
no farther ; so the remaining 200 feet to the summit had to 
be climbed independent of it. Here is a fine view — when 
there is no fog. Now the fog, as a supplement to rain, is a 
fine thing for the California farmer; but to the tourist, who 
has made an ascent of 2600 feet at an expense of much time and' 
several sheckels it is the one thing needless. 

There was quite a reversal in our experiences at Pike's Peak 
and Mount Tamilpais, as far as temperature was concerned, 
at base and summit. At the first mountain the start was 
warm ; the finish unpleasantly cold and snow around us ; at 
Tamilipais the base was cool and pleasant ; the summit so hot 
we were as glad to leave it as we were Pike's Peak for its cold. 

That the camera man was on top goes without saying. 
There were sentimental girls who wanted their pictures taken 
standing on rocks gazing on the sea, or in other lackadaisical 
attitudes. But the heat of the sun and the fog lying like a 
misty ocean below and around us induced us to forego extras 
and our stay was short. We used an ordinary locomotive for 
the descent. This had four cylinders and eight driving wheels 
— the duplication for safety. The foot of the winding grade 
was soon reached ; passing over twenty bridges en route. 

Having time on our return we visited Pioneer Hall, where 
are collections of mementos of early California. To this place 
daily come many of the Forty-niners, who make it their head- 



156 AROUND SAN FRANCISCO BAY. 

quarters. Here is an association called the Society of Cali- 
fornia Pioneers to which they belong. These are supposed to 
have lived in the state prior to 1849; ^^ they are all about 
seventy or older. The few I saw were "true to name," as the 
tree agents say, and could be seen around the different rooms, 
talking, playing games, or reading. A favorite pastime among 
the more recluse, for these old timers are of varying moods ; 
Some garrulous, some reticent ; was a game of cards called 
"solitaire,** and it was an odd sight, these gray ghosts of the 
past, each playing against himself, shuffling and dealing his 
cards in grim silence. Others were playing chess, or billiards. 
It was no trouble to hunt up a sociable old fellow to take me 
around and show me what was interesting. One told me of 
Miss Rowena Granice, whose protege was "Little Lotta,** whom 
I saw in the little " Bit Theatre*' on the wharf, when twelve 
years old. What became of Rowena? Too much liquor for 
her weak constitution. And Lotta, who didn't know her, 
from miner to banker? And Woodward, of the "What 
Cheer*' ? he in his prosperous days was not above carving for 
his guests. He knew the Steamer "Senator'* from the time 
she came around the Horn until, dismantled after forty years 
of service, she was turned into a New Zealand collier. The 
* 'Senator" was of personal interest to me as having borne me 
and my fortunes up the coast in '58. The Forty-niners were 
very kind to me. 

Around the walls were portraits of prominent Californians 
and pictures and lithographs of San Francisco in various stages 
of development, and around the room, and on tables were 
various relics of the past. One was a small safe whose robbery 
had caused a murder and, after the guilty ones had been swung 
up by the Vigilantes, the safe had been rescued from the shal- 
low waters of the bay. Another was a brass cannon, first pre- 
sented by the Emperor of Russia to his colony north of the 
Golden Gate; then on the evacuation given to Captain Sutter 



CALIFORNIA REVISITED. 157 

for his fort. In turn he loaned it to Captain Fremont when 
he marched down the coast to help quell the rising of the 
Mexicans, Drawn by oxen it had an adventurous career along 
with the expedition. It was afterwards returned to Captain 
Sutter and by him given to the collection. Other relics, of 
Indians and early white settlers^ attracted my attention ; bows 
and arrows, spears, shields, swords and muskets, of a past age. 

I saw hung on the walls two " Bear Flags;" the colors of 
California before a part of the Union. One was flung to the 
breeze at Sonoma in 1846, and did duty again the past year at 
the fiftieth anniversary of that event. I also saw something 
which in that far off land forcibly struck me. In the list of 
troops offered the Governor of Pennsylvania for service in the 
Mexican war, framed on the side of the museum, were two 
companies of Bucks County soldiers. These were the Union 
Guards, 74 men, Jas. Morrison, Captain; J. G. Hill, 1st Lieu- 
tenant, and Jont. J. Morrison, 2d Lieutenant, and the Doyles- 
town Guards, TJ men, Charles H. Mann, Captain ; J. S» 
Bryan, ist Lieutenant, and John Pidcock, 2d Lieutenant* 
Alone, a stranger in ^a strange land, these echoes of a local 
past produced a thrill which can be understood by those who 
have been similarly affected. 



IX. 

jit the 6ity of the j^ngelf. 

The engine whistles southward, Ho I 
With grip and Guide-book off we go, 
Twixt mountains rising on each hand ; 
By rivers margined wide with sand, 

We climb at last the far divide, 

By zig-zag curves from side to side, 

To see at last the promised land . 

Its wealth of fruits and flowers expand. 

Such scenes if witnessed by the Spies of old 

They'd staked their claims and left their "find" untold. 

'HE next place to claim my attention was Southern 
California. On July i6, accompanied by two friends* 
I left San Francisco at 5 o'clock, and crossing the 
ferry — we are always crossing ferries here — were swiftly rolling 
over the Contra Costa plains where *'Scottie" and I plodded so 
wearily in the long ago, with bundles on our backs, the rain 
pouring and discouraged from our inability to find work. The 
way we hunted for what the regular tramp avoids marked ours 
the " Endeavor tour of '58;" whether the Christian prefix was 
allowable or not I will leave by saying that he who crossed the 
plains in the days of ox-trains deserves well if he came through 
without breaking the "Commandments ten God gave to men." 
Through the hills on our right wound Walnut Creek Canyon, 
which we had ascended on the following day, passing the night 
in a barn, after the kind ranchman had given us our supper; 
thence the next day to Martinez. The Contra Costa range we 

(158) 




CALIFORNIA REVISITED. 



<59 



tramps got through ; but it was too much for the Southern 
Pacific; so they went round it where it shoulders the straits of 
Carquinez. Here, at Martinez, I looked across to Benecia, 
seemingly grown no larger, as it lay scattered over the hi, Is, 
than in 1858. The ferry-boat was still running but the kind 
captain, who refused my last money for ferriage was dead, and 
I hope when he crossed the mysterious river Charon was as 
kind to him. I looked up the shore of Suisun bay where we 
tramped in the long ago, and thought of the rain, the slippery. 




THE " ESDEAVORERS" OK '58 — MT. DIAIILO IN THE DISTANCE. 

muddy roads and our vain search for work. Ju.st above was 
Cordelia, where we left our heavier luggage and went on the 
next morning in light marching order. In passing through 
Martinez I looked in vain for the livery stable where we stayed 
all night with horses for company, and then quickly passed 
over the road we slowly walked before, between Pacheco and 
that town. As we curved around to the Southeast Mount 
Diablo came in plain sight and was the chief land mark as long 
as daylight lasted. As we ran along the shore of Suisun bay 



l60 AT THE CITY OF THE ANGELS. 

and then entered the valley of the San Joaquin the outlines of 
this isolated peak kept changing until from a single it took a 
dpuble hump, whose summits of 3700 feet altitude towered far 
over the neighboring range. We saw the waters of the San 
Joaquin by twilight and moon light, but the busy harvest scenes 
we missed, where the fifty-foot headers, with their thirty-two 
horses to draw them, clip off the drooping wheat- h eads ; 
threshing as they go. Rivers and minor streams, half sand, 
half water ; sun-burned fields of grain and pasture, dotted with 
the ever-present live-oak and wooded foot hills rising to higher 
ranges, we passed in the dimming moon light, and tired with 
watching went to bed to sleep the sleep of the weary. 

Daylight found us crossing the junction of the Coast Range 
with the Sierra Nevada at the Tehachapa Pass, and where the 
elevation is 4000 feet. A succession of loops and tunnels, 
showing great engineering skill took us across. The story was 
told us that after the most astute experts had tried to find a 
way across for weeks a boy of eighteen solved the problem. 
As a similar narrative of a similar difficulty and solution was 
put before us I will not vouch for this. These things are found 
in different guide books and you "pays your money and takes 
your choice." At the foot of the mountain we struck the 
Mojave desert, a part of which I had passed over before. The 
familiar Yucca Palm arose around us with shaggy head and 
outstretched arms, in weired outlines, as it had impressed me 
on my other journey. Thousands of stunted Century-plants 
were scattered over the desert, with faded stalks rising from the 
dying leaves. An occasional water-station oasis was seen ; en- 
larged where mining camps made trucking profitable, and where 
there was a chance for irrigation. Quite a lake appeared in one 
place, where water had been gathered from a mountain stream 
for that purpose. 

We soon came to another divide, this time where we crossed 
the Sierra Madre — the Mother Mountain. Heavy grades, 



CALIFORNIA REVISITED. l6l 

sharp, over-lapping curves, whence we look down to deep val- 
leys with mining camps and irrigated strips of cultivated 
ground in their bottoms ; and then through a 7000 foot tunnel, 
and we swiftly descend to the Los Angeles valley. The scene 
is changing, and in place of brown mountain ranges and deso- 
late valleys we are amid such scenes as cheered the hearts of 
Napoleon's soldiers as they tramped down the Alps to Italy — 
except our mountain, instead of being snow-clad, was browned 
with drouth. Orange orchards and groves of olives showed 
themselves around us, and far ahead the vales and plains were 
green with irrigated fruit lands. Descending more and more, 
we came to the Los Angeles river and, skirting it a while, we at 
length came to straggling suburbs, and crossing the river were 
in a few minutes under the roof of the Arcade depot, and in the 
City of Angels — once so called, but now a city of hustling 
mortals. 

How can I compare this place of 100,000 people ; a railroad 
centre, whence steam and electric ways converge from all direc- 
tion ; 175 miles of graveled and asphalt a/enues which street 
cars traverse to a large extent ; magnificent stores and private 
residences in the city's heart, and in the suburbs neat cottages 
surrounded by tropical plants and flowers ; watered by artesian 
wells and mountain streams and lighted by electricity ? No 
better way than by my description in '58, after speaking of the 
business portion. 

"The streets of old Los Angeles have a singular look. The 
houses are built of blocks of sun-dried clay, called adobes; 
roofed with tiles and sometimes reeds, or tules, from the 
marshes. Over the last is spread a coating of pitch from 
bitumen beds near the town. In the summer this melts, and 
running down the white fronts gives them a variegated look. 
These ranges of houses are occasionally pierced by gateways 
which open to gardens where orange trees and grape vines 
show their fruit in their seasons. While the Americans were in 



1 62 AT THE CITY OF THE ANGELS. 

the lead there was a large percentage of a different element — 
Mexicans, Indians and Chinese. Occasionally a troop of faggot- 
laden donkeys would come stringing into the town from the 
adjacent mountains, while now and then a slow moving team of 
oxen, on the road to the coast with pipes of wine, was seen. At 
an opposite gate came Mexican horsemen with large hats; 
•scrapes' on shoulder and lasso on saddle, with big spurs a- 
jingle, raising clouds of dust. Mid-stream, in the Los Angeles 
river, I saw women washing clothes by beating and wringing 
them ; a picturesque scene." 

My style of entrance to the city was also of a contrasting 
nature with my present mode. I had walked sixty miles from 
San Bernardino, and was foot-sore and tired ; with hardly the 
means to get a **tomale," let alone to buy what is now called a 
square meal. For all that I was interested in the town from 
what I knew of it and spent the little time I had looking 
around, seeing the odd sights of houses and people. I remem- 
ber the bare Plaza ; then an unsightly place, with an old adobe 
church, some government buildings and low whitewashed 
houses around the square. Now it is a Park, full of palms 
and flowers. Arriving! just before noon I left for the coast at 
sun-down along with a comrade of the plains, ** Dutch Jo." I 
remember well the loneliness of that walk by night to San 
Pedro ; the nearest sea-port. 

Now I was to spend a week here and my anticipations were 
naturally different from those of old. Besides two congenial 
home friends were with me, and taking up our lodgings we 
made ready to see the sights of Los Angeles and surrounding 
country. A delightful time we had. A comparison of a wheel 
comes in. The Angelic city the hub ; the radiating lines of 
travel the spokes and we'the "fellows;*' but there was no tire. 
We were as fresh for new scenes in the morning as we were the 
day before. 



CALIFORNIA REVISITED. 163 

Learning that John C. Fremont's widow lived in Los Angeles 
and presuming on my boyish admiration for the General when 
I had the wild-west fever and my following in his wake as 
pioneer, I risked calling on her. She lives in the suburbs in a 
beautiful home presented to her by the ladies of the town. It 
is near the junction of fine residence streets lined with palm 
trees; roses and heliotropes exhale their perfumes from the 
porch, and other flowers decorate the grounds. The lady who 
came to the door was her daughter. I had no cards, so gave 
her my full name on a note-book leaf. She said her mother 
was at home but indisposed, but would see if she felt like hav- 
ing a visitor. She soon returned and inviting me in took me to 
where her mother was. Mrs. Fremont was in feeble health, 
looking ten years older than she was — seventy-three — somewhat 
hard of hearing but mentally bright. With the tact of those of 
her station she remained standing so as to cut short my visit, if 
necessary; but as she talked seemed impressed enough to invite 
me to sit down. She spoke much about her husband to whose 
memory she is intensely loyal, and sensitive to his treatment by 
those above him during the war. I told her that reading his 
adventures had much to do with my crossing the plains, and 
this following in his wake was my lame excuse for making my 
call. Pointing to my bronze button she said ''Whoever wears 
that little disc need not apologize for calling on me. I was too 
much identified with the war, through my husband, not to rev- 
erence that button. Too many of those prominent on the Union 
side in that struggle got scant reward ; but that don't matter. 
Then the man you were named for ! He was cotemporary with 
my father; the one in the house, the other in the Senate; for- 
ever at political odds, but mutual admirers and firm friends for 
all. Th^n who was more loyal to my husband than Thaddeus 
Stevens ? When detractors were undermining his good name, 
and even trying to influence the President against him, the 
"Great Commoner" was ever his friend ! Mr. Lincoln was 



164 AT THE CITY OF THE ANGELS. 

kind-hearted, but too yielding to those who wished to crowd 
down General Fremont." Speaking of the time her husband 
ran for president in 1856 she said his political friends wanted 
him to deny being a Catholic, to gain "American" votes, as 
there was a great feeling against that church during that cam- 
paign. Although not of that religion, being an Episcopalian, 
he refused to comply. His friends were hard set to get him to 
conform to their campaign plans. Full beards were at that 
time significant of a "crank," besides he parted his hair in the 
middle and wore it long; so his advisors asked him to comply 
with what they thought the proprieties, but he again declined. 
He was too fresh from his free life on the plains to be tethered 
with such restrictions. The General was the first presidential 
candidate to wear even chin whiskers ; hence the uneasiness of 
his friends. Van Buren's side whiskers let him in to the White 
House once ; but the next time he failed, so it were wise not to 
tempt Providence again. Smooth-shaven James Buchanan took 
the cake. Who remembers the bitter campaign of '56 will re- 
call the childish personalities then prevailing. Fremont was a 
" Nigger Man ;" "The Woolly Horse Candidate" — in allusion 
to an animal in Barnum's show, said to have been captured by 
the General ; that he ate mule-meat and painted a Cross on In- 
dependence Rock, on its discovery. All these the "Black Re- 
publicans" answered the best way they could ; that he partook 
of the objectionable flesh was because he was hungry; he had 
nothing to do with the Woolly Monster ; that he was no Nigger 
Man, and as for the Cross it was the custom of Christian ex- 
plorers to so mark important "finds." As to the candidate, he 
kept his whiskers, his middle hair-part, and said nothing, while 
his defenders had to content themselves with shouting, "youVe 
another" and "Ten-cent Jimmy," &c. Of course these are my 
reflections ; not the words of my hostess. 

Mrs. Fremont spoke of the General's proclamation freeing the 
slaves of Missouri rebels and its recall by the President, and to 



CALIFORNIA REVISITED. 1 65 

my remark that he was put forward as a feeler by the Ad- 
ministration ; that if the move was successful, well and good; 
if not, it could be disowned and condemned, she seemed quite 
responsive and reiterative. 

Mrs. Fremont crossed the Plains soon after the completion of 
the overland railroad, accompanying the General to California. 
*' From the car windows," said she, '* he showed me place after 
place, once familiar to him ; where he had encamped, hunted, 
explored and encountered the wily savage in fight or pow-wow. 
At that time real " Blanket Indians" could be seen and plenty of 
buffalo also. He often dwelt on his historic march down the 
California coast to meet the Mexicans under General Pico, 
made during the rainy season and when the summer-dry moun- 
tain streams were torrents. His route was up the San Joaquin 
valley, across the mountains to Santa Cruz, down the coast and 
over the range back of Santa Barbara. Coming down these 
steeps he lost one hundred mules and oxen. The General's 
part in the acquisition of California will never be fully recog- 
nized." 

Through all Mrs. Fremont's conversation was shown the 
most extreme devotion to her husband, which followed him 
through good and adverse fortune, and there was certainly a 
good portion of the last ; particularly after he became promi- 
nent in politics and war. She showed me the portraits and pic- 
tures around the walls of the rooms, and many objects of in- 
terest besides. The first were of the General when a young 
man ; when a candidate for President, and in the gray of his de- 
clining years; of Mrs. Fremont at different ages, and of her two 
sons; one a lieutenant in the navy; the other an army captain. 
There was an oil painting of Colonel Benton. This was rescued 
from a Washington fire, and a rent in the canvas, caused by 
being thrown from a window, had been left unmended. There 
was a drawing of a buffalo hunt by Darley, from an original by 
Fremont, and many fine engravings. Although an entire 



l66 AT THE CITY OF THE ANGELS. 

stranger the two ladies were very kind to me in giving informa- 
tion and showing me the many relics and objects of interest 
around them. 

When Dana revisited California in 1859, which was the year 
I left it, he called on the Fremonts then living at Mariposa. 
He speaks of Mrs. Fremont as "the heroine of either fortune; 
the Salons of Paris, or wilds of California." They were then in 
poor circumstances, and content to live in accordance there- 
with. 

I have spoken much of this visit, mainly because the princi- 
pal figure was the widow of a man who during the developing 
time of my life was my hero. I roamed the plains and moun- 
tains of the wild-west with him on his exploring expeditions, 
hunted with him for deer, buffalo and Indians; marched with 
him at the head of his California Battalion ; suffered with him 
through heat and cold and partook with him of mule-steak. 
In 1856 I shouted for him, when I was too young to vote, and, 
when he was an officer in the coming war of the Rebellion, 
hoped to see him the big general of them all ; but it was not to 
be. He died a disappointed man. 

A visit to the renovated church on the Plaza was of much in- 
terest. Established in 1781 ; renewed and finished by a Yankee 
sailor in 1822; modernized in 1861, it is a neat and rather pic- 
turesque building; but not up to the standard of the Mission 
Churches. On the middle tablet, over the door-way, is an in- 
scription in Spanish ; "The Faithful of the Parish of the Queen 
of Angels;" on another "God save thee, Mary, Queen of 
Grace ;" on a third, " Holy Mary, Mother of God, Forgive us 
our Sins !" While another has on it the text beginning, "The 
Lord so loved the world, &c." These are characteristic sen- 
tences about the old churches of California. In an ante-room 
of the Priest's house I was shown some odd paintings, along 
with a worm-eaten altar-bench from the old Mission days. 



CAUPORNIA REVtSlTElX 167 

They were in a curtained room where the curious or devout 
might see them. There were about a dozen of the paintings 
which had once hung on the walls of the now ruined church of 
San Fernando ; whence they were brought to save them, and 
were about thirty by fifty inches in size. They were painted by 
Indian converts, about 1800, and represented miracles of the 
Bible and scenes from the life of Christ. A peculiarity, aside 
from their authorship, was that the clothing and surroundings 
were made to conform to the time of painting. 

I did not see Abraham in the guise of a Spanish soldier, with 
a flint-lock musket, taking aim at Isaac ; while a full-cheeked 
angel was blowing the priming from the pan ; as another 
traveler had seen, but I saw some pictures almost as unique. 
The figures, men and women, were garbed in the dresses pre- 
vailing around the Missions in 1800; even the Saviour, who 
was dressed as a Spanish high official ; as would be natural 
with the simple-minded Indian artists, who, in a state of semi- 
slavery, were made to look upon the leading white men as 
superior beings. For the same reasons the Apostles, disciples 
and other followers were clad in accordance with the grades of 
people around them ; the lower characters, of course, in the 
painter's humility, being shown as Indians, the others as monks 
and soldiers. The sizes were disproportioned and the perspec- 
tives faulty ; but for all that they were wonderful exhibitions of 
the skill of the Coast Indians ; who, when found, were consid- 
ered lowest in the scale of original Americans, and I could look 
on these quaint representations without a feeling of ridicule or 
irreverence. While an assistant priest was showing me the 
relics the sexton came in to say a marriage ceremony was 
awaiting consummation. The good Father's face brightened 
up, for what was in prospect had much more in it than showing 
uncouth Indian paintings to a Gringo of another faith and where 
monetary reward was doubtful, and throwing on his sacred 
robes hastened to the adjoining chapel, while I went out and, 



1 68 AT THE CITY OF THE ANGELS. 

although an unbidden guest passed in also; but not in an 
obtrusive manner. The lighting of the candles, the coming in 
of a few invited friends who performed their obeisances before 
sitting, and the subsequent ceremony in a foreign tongue, had 
much of interest, but whether I had any right there was another 
matter. After that the wedding party passed out, and into the 
priest's house. There they remained awhile and then walked 
chatting and laughing to the street, where carriages were in 
waiting. There was no "best man ;" no Loheftgrin wedding 
march ; no "bride's roses ;" no "showers of rice ;" no old shoe 
dangling from the axle, as the carriages drove away. Moreover 
there was no gushing reporter to chronicle the event, so there 
was nothing mindful of home in the wedding within this church 
of ancient memories 1 

I would like to say that the bride and groom were in the 
morning of life ; but I can't ; they were "getting along" towards 
middle age, in fact ; but there may have been some romance 
about it for all. It might have been a case of "warming over 
the old broth ;" or a separation by cruel parents. There might 
have come long, patient waiting; the right ones deceased, 
after uncongenial marriages; the old lovers with "loose feet" 
again ; a re-combination, and, as the old fairy tales ended, a 
" living together happily forever afterwards." At least it is to 
be hoped so, for in this land of easy divorces their is no telling. 

The quaint church with its bright pictures, and paper flowers, 
shown in "dim religious light ;" the smiling bridal party, the 
palms and tropical vegetation on the Plaza in front ; the clang- 
ing, buzzing trollies as they whirled around the corner made 
scenes and sounds to remember. 

The odd names on signs in Los Angeles I noticed ; a sash 
and blind factory was a "Door Factory;" a wine press a 
"Winery;" where bicycles were repaired a "Cyclery." I saw a 
drug store with five signs to suit the eyes of English, Spanish, 





.^iith. 


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TaS flCBNB OP THB WEDDING 



CALIFORNIA REVISITED. 1 69 

Italian, French and Slav. Thus, respectively, **Drug Store ;" 
*• Botica Espanola ;" "Farmacia Italliana ;" "Pharmacie Fran- 
cais" and "Slavjanska Ljckarnica." It will be noticed that the 
"arnica" in the last word sounds appropriate for brawlers like 
the Huns; but how to pronounce "Ljck," although I am a 
Welshman, rather got me. Another novelty was a sign like a 
perpendicular panorama, continually revolving, on which were 
business cards ; a strong electric light falling on them as they 
passed an opening level with the eye. 

An imposing, solid building on Broadway is the City Hall ; 
not fanciful outside, but with a beautiful inside finish. Here 
are the city offices, including the Council Chambers and a free 
library. I passed my evening leisure hours here. There was 
spent here last year $22,000. and 566,000 volumes were taken 
out. On the book shelves is my "California Tramp," showing 
that the committee on selection know a good thing when they 
see it. There are many visitors here in the evenings ; some 
looking like veritable book worms. No talking is allowed and 
it gives one a gruesome feeling to see these silent people 
around their tables or noiselessly hunting for books. A reading 
room, where I was glad to find the Philadelphia Ledger on file, 
is in connection. How that prosaic paper lit up the homeward 
road ? 

On one floor is a collection of the products of Southern Cali- 
fornia — I think from the Chicago exhibit — arranged in attrac- 
tive ways. Fruits of all kinds, canned and dried, piled up in 
pyramids, towers, minarets and, in one mstance, in likeness of a 
bottle, twenty feet high. Wine and olives, oranges and lemons, 
almonds and walnuts, figs, peaches and apricots, plums and 
grapes, apples and pears met the eye; while beans, grains 
of all kinds and vegetables in itv^vy variety were shown. Even 
perishable iruit is kept by replacement, on decay. A three- 
hundred pound pumpkin startled me. There was a gentleman 



I/O AT THE CITY OF THE ANGELS. 

in charge to show and explain, and while somewhat wild in his 
statements as to yields made himself so agreeable I forgave 
him. Not the least interesting thing to me was a Mexican cart 
of the old Mission days, and in use, with primitive wooden 
plows, on my former visit. There was also a collection of In- 
dian relics, such as pottery and implements of war and hunting. 

The night scenes in the bright, arc-lighted streets of Los 
Angeles were ever entertaining, as my traveling friends will 
testify to. One of these had as central figures the Salvation 
Army which nightly assembled near our lodging place. There 
was the usual number of Captains and Lieutenants, with the 
small percentage, as in real army life, of privates. There were 
men and women ; black and white ; boys and girls ; several 
with horns and drums. The speakers made impassioned ap- 
peals to the curb-stone audience; sang and prayed. Their 
singing in the lively, rattling strains peculiar to these people, 
was fine. The faces of some of the women, as they were turned 
upward, singing or silent, had a beautiful expression ; I might 
say angelic, that indescribably impressed us. At last, passing 
around their cymbals for a collection, they gathered up their 
horns and drums, and, asking us to follow them to their hall, 
noisely marched away. 

I must not forget the Tomale carts ; an " institution" of Los 
Angeles. They at one time numbered fifty; but, alas ! they are 
going the way of other old-time features that belonged to the 
picturesque past; the wood-laden burros, the Mexican horse- 
men, the ox-teams, the cowled monks and the "lavenderas" or 
washer-women who laundered in the river. There are but 
thirty Tomale carts now. And what is a Tomale ? First you 
must pronounce it Tomally. It is meat and vegetables ground 
together, placed in corn husks, seasoned to the verge of endur- 
ance and boiled as wanted. There are factories where they are 
manufactured, as sausage. There are two kinds made ; from 
meat and what is supposed to be chicken. Doubting Thomases 



CALIFORNIA REVISITED. I7I 

say that sea-gulls, and even more questionable material, go at 
that. They are known as meat tomales and chicken tomales 
and are sub-divided into Texas and Mexican ; the first hot ; the 
second hotter. In one apartment of the boiler in the cart is 
red-pepper sauce which the tomale-man pours on the hot hash, 
after it is "shucked*' and emptied in the customer's plate, in 
quantities to suit the nationality of the dish ; and really the way 
it is used one would think there was "pepper to burn ;'* as the 
phrase goes. The taste of this dish is an acquired one with 
foreigners who get used to it, "as eels to being flayed." The 
large carts have room for a man to stand in, as well as for stove, 
counter and shelving, are close to the ground and, large as they 
are, pulled around by hand. The Pemberton Company has 
seven Tomale carts; the majority of these movable restaurants 
are small affairs ; some only wheelbarrows. The smallest of 
them are manned by Mexicans and are seen around the old 
Plaza, and these swarthy fellows will give you a genuine "hot 
stuff," which will make you want a copper lining for your 
stomach. In addition to the tomales are sold chile-con-carne 
(pronounced chilly-con-carney) or pepper with meat on it — 
chiefly red-pepper ; " Hamburger's," a sandwich with a flUing 
of chipped meat and onions, and "Wiener-wurst," a dubious 
sausage. You can also get bread and butter, pie and coffee ; 
the last three for five cents each. "Hamburgers" and "Wiener- 
wursts" are a dime. One can fill himself for fifteen cents; par- 
ticularly if he begins with a Mexican tomale, which is hot 
enough to cook what follows. All are more or less peppery. 
A Mexican can't get too much cayenne, which in the shape of 
a fiery sauce the tomale-man pours over his customers' food. 
The law, written or unwritten, says the carts shall not go out 
till nightfall ; at any rate we could not satisfy our acquired 
appetite until then. Really we people were getting the "Tomale 
habit" from too frequent visits to the wheeled "joints." Backed 
up to the curb, with lights shining through their lettered cur- 



1/2 AT THE CITY OF THE ANGELS. 

tains, and the cries of "hot tomales" ringing on the air, these 
carts are a remembered feature of Los Angeles. 

A visit to "Spanish-town," as the section around and south of 
the Plaza is called, is of much interest. The greater part of the 
old adobes are standing; but their one time Mexican tenants 
are mainly died away, and Chinamen, or people of like low 
caste have replaced them. Some of the old buildings are in 
fair condition ; but many are going to ruin. The Pico House, 
in General Pico's time a pretentious mansion, from being of two- 
stories, is the most imposing of the lot, and even this is a victim 
of Chinese invasion. The greater part of these slant-eyed fel- 
lows are truckers, renting patches of land in the suburbs. 
Through their economical, patient, careful ways they have 
driven the Americans from vegetable raising in California. 
They are adapted to the irrigating necessities of the southern 
end of the state and by the use of hand pumps, artesian wells, 
or corporation water are making arid plains and hillsides teem 
with edible growth. They do not, however, put their market- 
ing in attractive shape, but as it is sold at low prices that does 
not seem an objection. At first they abused their horses, but a 
few fines from the S. P. C. A. taught these frugal-minded 
heathens a lesson. As the Celestials drive in to town in the 
evenings with their loads of truck on rickety wagons, drawn by 
rough horses in patched up harness, they form a curious pic- 
ture. As soon as night comes on they begin their low 
pleasures, and shuffle and skurry along to gambling house, 
opium joint and theatre. The last we did not enter, but stood 
at the door awhile listening to the screaming voices of the ac- 
tors, the clangor of drums and gongs, and occasional strains of 
barbaric music from brass and reed instruments. They sounded 
like wails from lost souls. We were curious to go inside but 
did not think the dirty coolies crowding up the stairs suitable 
company and passed on. There is a Joss house here, but not 
much favored ; showing that John is getting "allee samee Meli- 
can man." 






'/\^'*^:fev^^'5^:a^C*^37^ 



'MlMMll','! ^.,^ .^.... 



Galifsrnia Revisited. 



X. 

^Found Southern Galifopnia. 

Where Mission bells from tree and tower, 

Vibrant with welcome, once ran^ out. 
And hosts, responsive to their power, 

Gathered the cowled monks about ; 
Where myriad^herds the pastures grazed 

And the spiked chapparal filled the plain 
I saw such followings as amazed — 

Orchards out^spread and towns upraised-^ 
Then musing took the homeward train. 

E had now pretty well looked around our town, 
whose name I will remark is pronounced Loce- 
ang-he-les, and were ready for radiation. Our first 
point was Pasadena, twelve miles east. It was First-day morn- 
ing, "Our Lady of Angels" had sent her call to the faithful long 
since from her tower, and the invocation to a second service 
was chiming, as with a responsive trolly-clang we rolled through 
Spanish-town to our destination. Pasadena has 10,000 people, 
many of whom are wealthy and owners of fine residences. We 
rode around the town and through the grounds of Professor 
Lowe and a Mr. Rosenbaum, each noted for its attractions. 

(173) 




174 AROUND SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA. 

The coleus-beds, hydranges and ponds of water lillies ; roses 
climbing to the roof; large palms and cactus; tall bananas ris- 
ing and gracefully drooping, with clusters of fruit forming, were 
impressive. These grounds are high and a fine view of the sur- 
rounding country is had. Professor Lowe owns the Mount 
Lowe railway, a "cog-road" leading to the upper slopes of the 
Sierra Madre range, here 5000 feet high. He is the inventor of 
the ''Lowe Gas System," well known in the East. 

Where Pasadena is was a sheep range when I was here be- 
fore. And twenty years ago the land was bought for five dol- 
lars an acre; now the assessed value of the town is $10,000,- 
000. Water for irrigation comes from the mountains into 
which a tunnel is bored and a copious spring reached. 

It being now meeting time we attended what is called a 
Friends Church, whose congregation is split off from the old 
fashioned Friends whom they think too conservative in refer- 
ence to singing, music and a paid ministry. At Pasadena is 
the second largest meeting of the new order, the strongest be^ 
ing at Whittier. There are two meetings in the town, some 
times called for distinguishment — the Wilbur and the Gurney 
— the former the Conservative. The church is well named as 
it has a bell and tower. It was new, in a nice part of the 
town, electric lighted, and arranged for Sabbath schools. The 
audience room had been profusely decorated for a "special 
Christian Endeavor service," several members of this body 
(Christian Endeavor) who belonged to the Gurney branch of 
Eastern Friends being present on their way home from the 
meeting at San Francisco. In front of the pulpit was a basket 
of oranges, flanked by purple flowers, to typify the C. E. 
colors. At each end of the altar were flowers of the same 
hues, and the organ bloomed with them. On each side of the 
pulpit were imitations of candles, tipped with electric globes, 
and around these vines were twined. 

The Sabbath school had just begun. A tall, venerable man 



CAUFORNIA REVISITED. 175 

acted as superintendent, and the different classes were scat- 
tered over the large building. An Indiana Friend had charge 
of the Bible Class, and he was thoroughly prepared for his 
work — full of energy and information when his class could not 
meet the profounder questions. Two other classes, junior to 
the first, occupied the main audience room. The smaller 
children were in other parts of the building. After the com- 
ing together of the school, a young woman went to the organ, 
and all sang who could; then there was an address of an East., 
ern •*pastor," and the school was dismissed. There are over a 
hundred members of the school ; they were all bright and in- 
telligent and seemed interested in the work. After a short re- 
cess the meeting gathered. The services were precisely like 
those of any Evangelical church, except that before the 
**pastor*' made his prayer he gave others an opportunity. A 
Richmond Friend preached the sermon of the day. after a 
chapter from the Bible was read. This was a scholarly ad- 
dress, such as you might hear from what are known as **first- 
class city churches." Then came singing, prayer, singing 
again ; then the most startling innovation — the collection. At 
a sign from the pastor, four young men stepped forward, and 
sticks like billiard cues with velvet bags on the ends were 
given them. With these they went around and then returned 
the collections. Some of the contributions were in small en- 
velopes. The announcements had been previously made, and 
were of the usual character in churches. Besides the congre- 
gational, there was singing by a well-trained choir, whose 
voices would have been valued in churches of more preten- 
tions. Outside, the trees and flowers of the tropic region 
flaunted their foliage and bloom — towering palms, tall, bend- 
ing banana plants, climbing roses, century plants, and bristling 
cacti. Nature seemed to endorse the departure these Cali- 
fornia Friends were making from what we thought the good 
old ways. But as we Friends from the Far East— perhaps 
wedded to our prejudices — sat there listening to the new ren- 



176 AROUND SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA. 

dering of Quakerism, we felt a yearning towards the plain 
meeting house, a short way off, where Mary Lee was raising 
her inspiring voice, reaching those who sat there in the con- 
viction that they were worshiping in the way of the great 
founder of the Society. The music, the singing, the brilliant 
service of the "Friends' Church" were in harmony with the 
warm air, the bright sky, and luxuriant vegetation, perhaps, 
but not with the sober ways of Quakerism as we know it. 

Among the audience was a lady of ninety, who had moved 
to Pasadena with her children. With her serene face and 
plain attire she seemed to sit there as one from the past, re- 
buking the innovations coming over her beloved Society. 
Through the music, song, sermon, and, I may add, collection, 
I could see this aged landmark of her sect, and the sight was 
refreshing, and as soon as the sermon was over I passed those 
high in the church to take this Friend by the hand, and tell 
her how glad the sight of her plain bonnet made me, and how 
good to the ear were her "thee" and "First-day," in contrast to 
the ignoring of the "plain language" during service and after. 

There was not a word in the sermon, and as I said, it was an 
eloquent one, to show that the speaker had ever heard of 
George Fox, except his saying at one point that we should no 
more be bound by him than the members of other societies 
should be bound by their founders ; new issues had come up, 
and we should meet them with modern weapons. The "plain 
language" he entirely ignored in the sermon. I thought that 
it would have been more in place for these Friends to have 
joined some other society or given themselves another name, 
than to worship under their present title. 

There is a yearly meeting of these Friends of California 
composed of the following subordinates, taking precedence as 
follows: Whittier, Pasadena, Altadino, Long Beach, Los 
Angeles, and Waldimere; the latter two weak, the last declin- 
ing. The first two are strong, and together number nine hun- 



CALIFORNIA REVISITED. 1/7 

dred members. They are the seat of the quarterly meetings, 
and are monthly meetings. These Friends have adapted 
themselves to the Coast, so different from their Eastern homes. 
The climate has by no means robbed them of their energy, 
and they are actively engaged in business — farming, carpenter- 
ing, and other trades, besides the professions. They are also 
devoted to philanthropic labor, in the lines of temperance and 
social purity. 

From Pasadena we went to San Gabriel. The route was 
over a beautiful country covered with orchards of varied Cali- 
fornia fruitage heretofore enumerated, while lines of alternating 
palms, magnolia, eucalyptus and pepper trees flanked the road. 
The last is as tough as gum and its sight brought to memory a 
huge maul of that wood with which I sent many a pointed 
red-wood post home under direction and guidance of my 
Italian task-master in days of old. The eucalyptus, or blue- 
gum, shows a thin bark which develops to one as rough as that 
of shellbark hickory ; when it begins to drop off. It grows so 
fast it is planted for firewood. In good soil it will attain a 
diameter of eighteen inches in ten years. 

We passed through a fine orchard-ranch, of various fruits, of 
seven hundred acres on which were elegant buildings and fine 
drives. The owner was dead and past worrying over a $125,- 
000 mortgage placed there in **boom-times." That much 
talked of and sadly thought of period was about 1885, and the 
"booms," the way they reacted, became real boomerangs. 
Hundreds of people were ruined in Southern California, and 
the effects are not yet gone. The speculation in land there 
was a sort of **South Sea Bubble," where clergymen, as well as 
gamblers, went in the financial whirl and, shearing, came out 
shorn. A minister who arrived in Los Angeles in the height 
of the craze told me that after being persecuted by laymen to 
invest in real estate he turned to a clerical brother for 
sympathy, but the first words he said were in reference to an 
orange grove he wanted to put on the "gringo" dominie ! 



lyS AROUND SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA. 

Let me here say the typical Southern Californian is sensitive 
to the opinions and criticisms of the East ; and, intensely 
loyal as he is, he smarts under its assumed patronizing ways. 
While he should be secure in the known advantages held by 
his state, he puts a climatic chip on his shoulder, and, in an 
unknightly way dares us, so handicapped by the disadvantages 
of our changing climate, to knock it off ! In the implication 
of Eastern envy and jealousy the loyalist of "Our Italy" over- 
does his part. We do not under-rate you. Oh, dwellers in the 
Land of Sunshine ! And we are speaking now, per force of 
Southern California; for if my memory serves me there is a 
north to your state where there is more or less fog ; though I 
think you have some yourselves. But we who have been there 
remember your golden days ; your refreshing sunset breezes ; 
your agricultural wealth ; your scenery by shore, plain and 
mountain, and your Mission ruins, so pathetic in their calls to 
their past grandeur and their religious conquests ; so appeal- 
ing to the lovers of the romantic and the picturesque, as well 
as to the student of history. We prove our love and admira- 
tion for your land by annual pilgrimages thence of tourists in 
tens of thousands. But don't ask us to sacrifice the love of 
"our own, our native land," in ecstacies over the questionable 
perfection of yours ! The uncalled for feelings towards us 
have developed a literature in California, peculiar in its in- 
tensity of expression in high strung sarcasm, put in the most 
aptly chosen words and sentences; yet the writers show a 
frugal mindedness in the climax, denoting the dependence of 
their Land of Climate on the Plutocratic Easterner ; and in 
pitiful sycophancy call attention to the wise men of the East 
who so appreciate their valleys and hills as to settle among 
them and make them what they are. 

The following is an example of the feeling alluded to ; taken 
from a prominent magazine of Southern California: 



CALIFORNIA REVISITED- 1 79 

TH£IB GRASS. 



BY CHARLOTTE PERKINS STETSON* 

They say we have no grass ! 

To hear them talk 

You'd think that grass could walk , 

And was their bosom friend — no day to pass 

Between them and their grass J 

No grass t they say, who live 
Where hot bricks give 

The hot stones all their heat and back again — 
A baking hell for men. 

**Oh but," they haste to say, **we have our parks"— 
Where fat policemen check the children's larks, 
And sign to sign repeats as in a glass 
*'Keep off the grass 1" 

*'We have our city parks and grass, you see — " 
Well — so have we ! 

But 'tis the country that they sing of most. "Alas 1" 

They sing, '*for our wide acres of soft grass ! 

To please us living and to hide us dead 1 — " 

You'd think Walt Whitman's first was all they read I 

You'd think they all went out upon the quiet 

Nebuchadnezzar to outdo in diet ! 

You'd think they found no other gre^n thing fair — 

Even its seed an honor in their hair ! 

You'd think they had this bliss the whole year 'round - 

Evergreen grass I — and we, plowed ground 1 

But come now ! How does earth's pet plumage grow 

Under your snow ? 

Is your beloved grass as softly nice 

When p>acked in ice ? 

For six long months you live beneath a blight — 

No grass in sight. 

You bear up bravely. And not only that. 
But leave your grass and travel. And thereat 
We marvel deeply, with slow Western mind. 
Wondering within us what these people find 
Among our common orangey and palms 
To tear them from the well-remembered charms 
Of their dear vegetable. But still they come, 
Frost-bitten invalids, to our bright home, 
And chide our grasslessness, until we say — 
But if you hate it so — why come ? why slay ? 

Just go away ! 

Go to — your grass I 



iSO AROUND SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA. 

This is good poetry but it is reminiscent of sour graj>es. 
Grass, as we know it, does not take kindly to the "Land of 
Sunshine," whose hay is the unripe stalks of wheat, oats and 
barley. 

But to return to our hack and the scenic descriptions its 
movements develop. 

Through clouds of dust we at last reached the Mission of 
San Gabriel. This is a large building with buttressed walls 
and built of burned bricks ; a rarity in the early days of Cali- 
fornia. The Mission was founded in 1771, under the name of 
San Gabriel Arcangel, by two priests and twenty soldiers sent 
out by Portala, the military head of the province. As the 
connecting ceremonies progressed warlike Indians came on the 
scene prepared for their undoing ; but when the good Padres 
showed them a picture of the Madonna held aloft they fell 
on their knees and made oflferings of beads to the Virgin. 
Then the cross was raised, the mass celebrated. There were 
few conversions at first, but the Mission at last prospered ; 
both in the salvage of heathen souls and in worldly matters. 
At one time there were 30,000 cattle thereunto belonging, be- 
sides the proportion of horses, mules, sheep and oxen ; and in 
1835, when the Mission was on its decline, there were 600 In- 
dian converts. Many of these were skilled in carving and 
tracing in wood, horn and bone, taught them by the fathers ; 
in fact some of the specimens, yet unstolen by collectors of 
rarities show wonderful handiwork. It is incredible how con- 
scienceless some of these relic-hunters are ; easing their minds 
sometimes by giving a pittance to the easy-going monk or 
sexton in charge. One man boasted to me about a baptismal 
font of Indian workmanship, and a marvel of skill, which he 
got for nothing, and which now ornaments his home. Beauti- 
fully stamped saddle-skirts, carved wooden stirrups and deco- 
rated pottery, long kept as evidences of the capability of the 
converted Indian, were similarly taken, until little is left. 



CALIFORNIA REVISITED. l8t 

The accounts of the dismantling of San Gabriel, and the ef- 
forts of the Padres to keep the beholdings, whereby they 
might have control of the converts they had so long kept from 
barbarism are interesting studies^ and readers of Ramona can 
understand why the author was so full of the subject of Indian 
misuse. When the end came the broad pasture lands were 
siezed by Mexican officials, and orders given for the sequestra^ 
tion of the stock. The cattle gone the most of the Indians 
left for the mountains or died for lack of Care, for they were 
much as grown up children. The water-ways being neglected 
the orchards and vineyards went to ruin, and the outlying 
Mission buildings crumbled to the ground, until nothing is left 
intact but the church and adjoining cloisters, where lives the 
Padre, Joaquin Bote. 

Alighting at the main church entrance we hunted up this 
gentleman, and such he was; even though a Spaniard. He 
told us in his accented English this parish was very poor; only 
the dark people we saw around the adobes and an occasional 
well-to-do from a distance composing it. At Mass, when they 
should collect the most, only two or three dollars were raised^ 
and then it cost so much to keep the large building in repain 
Did the gentleman see that handsome, red-wood ceiling? It 
cost much for a parish so poor. And these pictures around 
the chapel walls? 

They had grown dim. But money we raised and touched 
them up; restored them, and now they are as fresh and bright 
as in the old Mission times of happy memory. Visitors come 
sometimes, but not much give they. Just then came a car- 
riage load of tourists and getting out they prepared to follow us 
around; being like John Gilpin's wife, frugal-minded. But 
Padre Joaquin said to them, ** Some money we would expect 
for the church; being poor;*' and these tourists got as far as 
they dared, took a good peep, and turning about said they be- 
lieved they had seen enough, and the Padre said they were 



lS2 AROUND SOUTHERN CALfFORNIA. 

right. He was pleasant, but mildly sarcastic. Then he took 
us paying heretics around and showed us up a steep stone stair- 
way to the roof where was the belfry, with three bsUs swinging 
therein which he pointed to in a loving way. Two of them 
were from Old Spain; the other from Boston-way, and I war- 
rant came from some coasting " hide drogher** of three-fourths 
of a century back, and was traded for hides and tallow.* The 
Spanish bells had pious inscriptions, and had doubtless been 
twice blessed, like the qualities of mercy ; first, when their re- 
ligious donors shipped them across the main and again when 
they were swung from the bell-tower. These Mission bells 
were held in sentimental reverence by priest and convert. The 
Yankee bell was a plain, every-day afifair, with the name of the 
Boston foundry taking the place of saintly nomenclature on the 
other bells. No precious metal in that, as in the others ; all 
suggestive brass. Then we looked from our high station on 
the goodly land around, where once roamed in tens of thou- 
sands cattle, horses, sheep and goats; a land now in possession 
of unromantic Americans, and covered with orchards and 
planted fields, where there were no towns, and I could imagine 
Father Joaquin, as he stood reflectively by, pondering on the 
doings of these fellows, who went on planting and gathering 
and money getting, caring nothing for holy-water, nor incense, 
nor the salvation of souls; while he, lonesome and with un- 
congenial parishioners, passed his round of monotonous days; 
saying mass, preaching, confessing, marrying, baptizing, shriv- 
ing. When we had looked our fill he led us down the steps 
and learning we were athirst got us some water from the well 
in the court yard. Glancing in at his plain apartments we 
shook his cordial hand and went our way. Kind Padre Joaquinl 
though Spaniard and Papist, may thy shadow never grow less! 
for truly thou art spare enough now, and may thy next 
parish yield thee better emoluments than this of San Gabriel. 

*A year later, with the war between the Americans and Spaniards exciting the world, 
Uiese representative bells would have seemed still more aiscordant, and as for Father 
Joaquin himself, he would have got scanter courtesy from our intense tourists. 



CALIFORNIA REVISITED. 1 83 

As for the village ? Well I One would think, if he did not 
hear the scream of the locomotive and the whir and clang of 
trollies, he was in the pueblo of a century back. Here were the 
low adobes and their porticos underneath which the dusky vil- 
lagers were lounging the Sabbath afternoon away. It was a 
veritable nook in the land of "Poco Tiempo" and "Quien Sabe.** 
*'In a little while" and '*who knows ?" those careless Mexican 
replies, were written on the faces of these Pueblans, and re- 
flected on the listless dogs and tired looking fowls. Around 
were drooping palms and thorny cacti, and behind the low 
dwellings were gardens in which were growing the corn, beans 
and peppers for making the "frijoles," **tomales'* and "chile-con- 
carne ;" so loved by the swarthy natives. In the near suburbs 
were the ruined remnants of once pretentious buildings, while 
rising over all was the Mission Church with its trio of bells 
ready for the coming Angelus. Rudely bound with thongs of 
leather to their rocking beams, with the rust of generations 
upon them, and full of suggestions of a romantic past, they 
seemed in their arched sockets in mute remonstrance at the in<- 
novations which had so pitilessly changed the face of the pas- 
toral leagues over which they pealed a century ago. 

In a few minutes our driver had us in another world ; a busy 
world which took us from romance to reality ; and that of a 
paying sort. From San Gabriel station were last year shipped 
25,000 boxes of oranges and 15,000 of lemons ; 3000 barrels of 
wine and brandy, and large quantities of stone-fruit, hay and 
grain. 

And now from a romantic old Mission to an Ostrich farm ; a 
historic church to a modern hen-coop; Padre Joaquin to a 
chicken-rancher I 

It was at the South Pasadena Ostrich farm we halted. Here 
were eighty birds, the increase of a few originals brought from 
Africa twelve years ago. They ranged from little chickens to 



184 AROUND SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA. 

thirteen-year-old fowls. We saw one noble rooster which had 
a reach of eight feet, and weighed 275 pounds. As we scanned 
him we mused; if a roast what drum-sticks ; what a neck; what 
flakes of breast meat ? Then the giblets, with the gizzard full of 
broken glass and scrap-iron I It would take a wash tub to hold 
the gravyl And then the "stuffing!" I am bewildered. 

We saw the nests. In humility the ostrich does not make 
the home for her eggs in the tree-top. She is no singer nor 
soarer as the lark, but like that bird builds, or rather excavates, 
her. nest in the ground. A few vigorous kicks and the "home 
without hands*' is made, and in time three eggs are found 
therein. She does not sit on them ; she has too much fore-arm 
and gambril-joint for that. Occasionally she and the other 
ostrich saunter around, giving perfunctory side-glances at the 
surroundings of the future yielders of bonnet adornments and 
feather-boas, and then go for something to eat. The Ostrich is 
the Oliver Twist of birds and the horse leech as well. His cry 
is More 1 More ! He loves beets. When he swallows a large 
rutabaga it passes downward slowly ; looking like a moving 
"Adam's apple." The largest bird could carry a man ; a small 
man. They are worth 1^300 when five years old and $5 a year 
additional afterwards. 

They lay 28 eggs a year and it takes the sun 42 days to hatch 
a setting. An ostrich egg will boil in one hour and a half. 
Though said to be good eating few are boiled. Cost too much! 
But if cooked, to apostrophize, what omelets; what Easter-feeds; 
what devils! It would take slices of elephant hams to go with 
the fries ! I would rather talk about their feathers. One bird 
will grow ^30 a year. Each feather is worth 1^2.50 to ;^3.oo; a 
feather boa ^30. From what our informant said the business is 
poor, and only the 25-cent curiosity of the tourist keeps the 
wolf from the hennery door. The world's distributing point 
for feathers is London, where $j, 000,000 worth is sold annually; 
nearly all from the Cape of Good Hope. The keeper hoped the 



CALIFORNIA REVISITED. I85 

coming tariff would put their business on its legs again ; then if 
these could be typified by the knobby props of these huge 
birds ! Alfalfa and beets are their food. A store is at the en- 
trance gate where men visitors are expected to buy feathers, 
singly or elongated to boas to give to or take home to their 
wives; but with their many outgoes they seemed too poor. 
How uneasy these sons of Adam grew as those who had wives 
or other interested ladies with them saw the interest of these in- 




HOW WE WENT TO SAN PEDRO IN '58 — "DUTCH JO" AND I. 

crease with the continued importunities of the salesmen, and 
how they wondered why the jewel mind was not more thought 
of than ornaments for the bodily casket ? and then as the sale 
neared the danger line suggested a visit to the poultry yard ! 

The next morning to San Pedro. Shall I compare my exit 
with that of long ago, when "Dutch Jo" and I at sunset left Los 
Angeles by the scattered adobe suburbs, and under our packs 



1 86 AROUND SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA. 

wearily moved through the gathering darkness to the coast, 
near thirty miles away ? What a lonesome walk ! How coldly 
the December stars glittered; how the coyotes snarled and 
howled in the distant mountains; how our blistered feet smarted 
as we silently moved along ? How gladly we came across the 
wine-wagon, ^hose uncouth, swearing driver and his quartette 
of oxen made poor company better than none ! for the plain 
was a hunting ground for a romantic robber, a certain Don 
Ramon, than whom was none more polite in easing travelers of 
their money, and who was the admiration of women-kind for 
his fine appearance. I can remember the names of those oxen 
yet as the driver shouted them forth, with punctuations of whip- 
snap and oath. But they were too slow; so we trudged ahead 
until midnight when we overtook some travelers and rested 
awhile around their grease- wood fire. I was now going by 
steam and making comparisons. 

After the suburbs were passed we saw field after field of truck 
farmed by Chinamen who pay $io to $30 per acre rent, water 
included. My informant told me one hundred bushels of corn 
could be raised to the acre. To do this irrigation is required. 
Near the coast, where there is plenty of fog, forty bushels is 
grown, unaided. We passed the Domingues Ranch, which, 
with its scattered buildings, looked like an old-time rancheria. 
It had not been parceled out and much stock roamed over its 
broad leagues. As we sped along I thought much of the night 
wayfarers of long ago who would have been so glad to steal a 
ride on a conveyance like ours. On the train we made 
acquaintance with a gentleman who yielded us much informa- 
tion, a Mr. Baker, who lived at Long Beach and who kindly of- 
fered to take us around on our arrival at the coast. Soon the 
sea came in view, ridged with gentle undulations ; the rollers 
spraying the beach, and I naturally thought of my first sight ol 
the Pacific Ocean. I wrote some lines on this event then, in 



CALIFORNIA REVISITED. 1 87 

which I modestly compared myself to Balboa ; Keats in his oft 
quoted lines makes it Cortez : 

*' Like to stout Cortec, when with eagle eye 
He stared at the Pacific, and all his men 
Looked at each other with a mild surmise, 
Silent upon a peak of Darien.** 

My poem died — Keats lived ; but then I lived and Keats 
died; so Time, that great leveler, has made things even. 
Otherwise there was no similarity between us travelers ; the one 
with his bold free-booters around him ; the other with no one 
to surmise with him but "Dutch Jo/' the one time singer of 
"Kitty Clyde" and kindred ditties. 

Long Beach is the finest bathing place on the coast, but on 
account of the cool air not to compare with similar resorts 
East. This seems strange considering the tropical vegetation 
and hot mid-days of Southern California ; but on the shore it is 
cool day and night at this point. The rising of the heated air 
from the vast desert areas east of the Sierra Nevadas causes a 
vacuum which is supplied by the sea-air, and while this is 
warmed on its way its freshness is felt along shore to a delight- 
ful extent. The air was cool, even at noon ; while the water 
was cold. The beach is fine and so hard as to make a drive- 
way undented by wheel or hoof A 1600 foot wharf, where im- 
mense quantities of fish are caught runs out to meet deep-sea 
vessels. The town runs two miles along shore and has one 
thousand people. Here annually the Chatauqua Society of 
California meets. The session was just beginning on our ar- 
rival. Long Beach had been a "dry" town, but the saloon ele- 
ment was now on top sufficiently to order a new election to 
change the charter. It has Electric Lights and Water Works. 
Near here an attempt is being made to harness the Ocean with 
a system of floats which, rising and falling with the tide, work 
pumps which force fresh water in a reservoir. This acts on 
turbine wheels whose power is capable of running the cars at 



l88 AROUND SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA. 

Los Anp^eles and its electric light plant also. This fresh water 
— salt would hurt the pumps and water wheels — is used over 
and over by the tide-driven pumps. Shore lots at Long Beach 
are worth $40 a foot. The omnipresent street-sprinkler keeps 
down the dust on the main streets; on others a coating of 
straw is applied which answers a good purpose. Our friend 
met us as he promised, and assuring us he had no axe to grind 
in the way of selling lots, and that our progress was purely a 
friendly move as far as he was concerned, took us a seven-mile 
drive along the "sounding shore." .Through palm lined streets 
we went and by the most luxuriant flower-decked lawns. A 
whale caught some time since still raised a sensation in this 
quiet town, and much post mortem money for the railroads, 
which ran excursions from all points. It was sixty feet long 
and was patriotically kept until the adjacent citizens were 
driven from their homes, when it was quietly buried — except its 
bones — the obsequies costing ^200. The frame was then being 
set up in a huge shed. The catching of this whale was an 
event, and Long Beach people will mark time by "the year 
we caught the Whale." We could not thank our friend Baker 
enough for his kindness in the excursion he gave us, and giving 
him farewell passed on to new scenes. 

Our next point was San Pedro, five miles up the coast. The 
new town of that name, a busy place and a great lumber mart I 
passed through, leaving my friends, who went back to Los 
Angeles. I wanted to see the old port where the Pilgrim lay, 
where Dana and his mates, the "hide-tossers," loaded and un- 
loaded her, on her trips up and down the coast ; and also where 
I embarked in the "Senator" for San Francisco ; so I passed by 
what would have interested the many for this old Los Angeles 
sea-port, a mile away. While much was unrecognizable around 
here on account of improvements made since my first visit, this 
place was hard to find from the buildings I once knew being 
leveled to the ground. I could find no cotemporaneous per- 



CALIFORNIA REVISITED. 1 89 

sons ; my enquiries being often rebuffed by cross dogs and 
Grosser men. One man I was directed to for imformation was 
grinding a knife on a stone run by a wind-mill. The power was 
feeble or fitful, which made him irritable and uncommunicative. 
I was so discouraged in my search for old land-marks, for it is 
hard to understand the difHculties I met with, that I was some* 
times ready to give up and devote my time to ordinary sight- 
seeing like the rest of the tourists who had no former visit to 
hamper them. But I was infatuated with my quest I had 
traveled before under such unfavorable circumstances that I 
felt like hunting up every spot I once knew, so I persevered. 

I was at last directed to "Crawfish George," as one who 
might sympathize with me in what the prosaic people seem to 
think a singular search. Their looks said "Who is this man, 
old enough to know better, coming enquiring about these 
ruined wharves and crumbled adobes ? Why don't he ask 
about New San Pedro and the immense Breakwater, to cost 
millions of dollars and make this bay rival San Francisco, and 
San Diego green with envy ?" I found George, of the surname 
Craw-fish, at last. He was living in a fisher's hut under the 
bluflf which looks on Dead Man's Island, at the foot of the old 
wharf road and near the remains of the old landing place. Here 
things looked natural enough except that the wharf-house was 
gone. Craw-fish George was a character. He lived a sort of a 
hermit-crab life in a hut, with some signs of attempt to improve 
the surroundings, in which drift wood and whale-bones were 
used ; but with evidences of his calling all around him. His 
name was not acquired from any backing out of undertakings or 
recantations of hastily uttered words, sometimes required in 
newly settled countries. George was a widower and quite con- 
fidential. He had supplemented the deceased Mrs. Craw-fish 
with alternating house-keepers, whose wage demands increased 
until ^10 per month was reached, when he drew the line; which 
being in his line came easy, and he has since lived a Robinson 



190 AROUND SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA. 

Crusoe sort of a life. Not that he is a misanthrope or has lost 
faith in women. When her price comes down he will take her 
back ; as he is a just man as well as frugal minded. I was go- 
ing to tell him another wife would come cheaper but I forbore. 
The women who could be content there in that lonely wave- 
swept, bluff-shadowed nook must have been of peculiar mental 
build. George left his net-mending to show me around. There 
were the remains of the old wharf known to me and Mr. Dana^ 
and a large grave-stone, half submerged, whose lettering was 
nearly worn off by the pitiless waves. An historic place is this 
old landing, where strange craft dropped anchor a century and 
more ago ; Spanish galleons, high-decked men-of-war and 
piratical craft ; and in the later Mission days, when Yankee 
trading schooners stopped to barter their notions for hides and 
tallow. Gray sea-captains, with voices husky from the in- 
halations of many a nor-wester, come to San Pedro and ques- 
tion the lone fisherman on local points ; for with land-marks so 
changed they are at sea, as of old, and George does what he 
can to set them right. He rolls over the grave-stone to show 
enquiring salts if anything is familiar in the wave- worn inscrip- 
tion ; he takes them among the ruins of the Adobes on the 
bluff; he gives them the views of other ancient mariners, and 
does other acts and things to make himself agreeable to these 
nautical dwellers in the past. A few days since some of Dana*s 
people had called on him to be shown a locality noted in **Two 
Years before the Mast." 

I took a lingering look at the beach whereon we shivered in 
waiting for the steamer in the years long gone. Before me lay 
"Dead Man's Island,*' with its tragic history, as bare and lonely 
as of old, and with signs of two other graves added to the 
original one; perhaps through ante-mortem sentiment. With 
Craw-fish George I then climbed the bluff to see what was left 
of the old adobes ; then, with the wharf house, all that made 
San Pedro. Some treasure-seekers had torn down one building 



CALIFORNIA REVISITED. 



19* 



to Rnd nothing of value; the others had crumbled to the origi- 
nal clay through neglect and winter rains. George was using 
the asphaltum of the roofs for fire-wood and sea-faring relic- 
hunters had "raked the ashes of the past" around the old forge 
for souvenirs of former visits. For me he found some ox-nails, 
near eaten up with rust; contrasting mementos of times long 
ante-dating the days of the locomotive we could hear shrieking 
down at New San Pedro. 




" DEAD man's island — SAM PEDRO IN i 

I give a picture of Dead Man's Island, or Terminal Island, as 
the unsentimental now call it, and San Pedro as I saw them in 
1858. The steamer is the "Senator" and the then rude manner 
of handling freight is shown. Beyond is the wharf, bluflfand 
steep way leading to the plain above. The road is effaced now, 
and those who come down the bank do so at the risk of a slide 
to the bottom. The Craw-fish home is at its foot, and its loneli- 
ness can be imagined. It is no wonder George's housekeepers 



192 AROUND SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA. 

want big wages ! The few buildings which then made San 
Pedro are shown. 

The island is now connected with the mainland by a mole, so 
the new town has a good harbor. The "Senator" in its monthly- 
visits had to lay a mile from shore and freight was transported 
on a lighter, and at the coming of storms vessels put to sea. 
Now there is good wharfage a mile from the old landing. The 
government is about expending ^3,000,000, on top of the 
Jl 1, 000,000 already spent, to make the harbor complete. At 
this San Diego is wroth ; as that port expected the favor. From 
the fishing grounds of San Pedro 3000 tons of fish were shipped 
last year ; and the lumber landed at the new port was 80,000,000 
feet ; a change from the old times when the coming of a hide 
and tallow trading ship up the coast was an event and the Bay 
quiet until such period. Large lumber vessels and freight and 
passenger steamers now replace these, and railroads do their 
part to make the change. 

♦ 9te 3|( 3(c 4c * ♦ 

Back to Los Angeles, its fine residences and business places, 
with their bright streets ; its quaint Spanish quarter and dingy 
thoroughfares, its street scenes, Salvation Army services, and 
now — it being night — 

Mingling with the clang of trollies 
Comes the cry of " Hot Tomales I" 
Mexican or Texas kind — 
Stomach should be copper-lined — 
*'Meat or chicken ?" (with suggestions) 
'•>P^a/ chicken ?" ask no questions 
For (the vendor's) conscience sake, 
And on faith your supper make, 
*'Hot Tomales I Hot Tomales I" 
In hot seasoned, verbal vollies, 
*'Come and try our chile-con-carne !" 
Oh, so peppery and bumy I 
Why the Dons pronounce it *'chilley" 
Seems contrariness run silly. 
Seems like sampling one's hereafter— ' 
This is not a thought for laughter-*- 



CALIFORNIA REVISITED. I93 

'* Hamburger and Weiner-wurst 
Try 'era and see which is worst I" 

On the morrow we were ready to run down another trail. 
This time it was towards San Bernardino. It was here I halted 
after my journey over the deserts from Salt Lake. On my sec- 
ond visit I tried to find some landmarks in scenery and 
humanity but with poor success. I saw some who were living 
there then, and they were mainly kind and sociable, but the 
Mormon with whom I came from Utah had been dead two 
years and gone the way of the Saints. Five weeks of rough 
travel in his company made me think well of him and I was 
disappointed we could not talk over old times together. But I 
looked up two of his sons ; though they were no good. I 
found them lounging around a grocery, averse to talk and 
shame-faced that I drew them into prominence among their 
loutish cronies, by my questions. 

San Bernardino had a "boom" in 1886 but a reaction came 
from which it never recovered. It has electric lights, street- 
cars and water-works, the results of the excitement of eleven 
years ago, but of the cars, the one-horse style seemed prominent 
and the motors quite ribby. Passengers were scarce. I was 
the only one from the depot, but the driver, and the horse 
needed driving, said he sometimes had twenty fares. Around 
the depot there were empty stores ; some with their doors and 
windows wantonly broken in. In fact there was a good deal to 
sadden one about San Bernardino. There was much complaint 
of hard-times. Knowledge that I was from Philadelphia caused 
a luckless shipper of dried apricots to that city to somewhat 
identify me with his losses. He had only realized two cents a 
pound, which fact caused a bitter feeling that I found it inex- 
pedient to try to sweeten. What ailed this town I don't know, 
but it strongly contrasted with neighboring towns, and had re- 
minders of its antecedent of 1858. 

From San Bernardino we went to Riverside, in Riverside 



194 AROUND SOUTHERN CALfFORNIA. 

County : why such misnomers I don't know. There is no river, 
unless a ribbon of sand can be so termed, in the whole county. 
The town was a thriving one ; so contrasting with the last. 
From here extends Magnolia Avenue, a wonderful highway. 
It was lined with alternating Palms, Magnolias and Pepper- 
trees watered by streams running in open cemented ways ; 
while back of these were continuous groves of oranges whose 
fruitage on tree or ground we were welcome to. One thousand 
acres of those were owned by one man. Orchards, with trees 
six years old, sold at $700 per acre, with water rights. Orange 
land is worth $200 to $306, and with water $150 per acre more. 
Irrigation costs from $2 to $12 per acre ; the cost varying with 
the difficulty of getting water. This sometimes comes from 
rivers and expensively tunneled mountains ; at others from 
artesian wells. It is carried through and around hills, and over 
deep ravines by long flumes. To save wastage the ditches are 
cemented. From these wooden sluice-ways open to the 
orchards and have gates to regulate the flow. Every day a 
waterman, called a "Zanjero," pronounced Zankairo^ goes his 
rounds letting on or shutting off" water, and seeing that the 
gates are not tampered with. Whoever interferes with these 
will have the water shut off" until he gives satisfaction. A ditch 
runs along the high side of the orchard and from these trans- 
verse furrows go from tree to tree, circling around, and con- 
tinuing. Where the grade prevents this a head must be ob- 
tained and piping and hose used. The orchard owners take 
turns watering ; six or seven times a year being necessary. As 
soon as the ground is dry it is cultivated and weeded until it 
looks like a fresh made garden. Nothing can look finer than 
these orchards, old and young, spreading over the country, 
yellow with fruit when old enough to bear or in their earlier 
stages, when the small, glossy leaved trees extend their green 
lines as far as the eye can reach. 

Our charioteer sometimes left the traveled road and cut across 



CALIFORNIA REVISITED. 1 95 

plantations; giving us a better view of their inner workings and 
of the fine buildings which could not otherwise be seen. Frosts 
are the enemies of the orange man. For years all may go 
well ; the trees reach their prime and after long waiting are 
yellow with fruit, when lo ! some winter morning "there comes 
a frost; a chilling frost," and the owner finds his hopes blasted 
along with his orange blossoms. Then shall he dig up his 
trees and plant some hardier fruit ? or wait and see if this is not 
the last killing snap ? a dilemma hard to surmount. I saw 
where a visionary, who had had a frost bite, placed an arbor 
over much of his orchard whereon he might put canvas when a 
frost was threatened. The fear of a freeze, in some sections, 
causes a constant anxiety, as it means great financial loss and 
sometimes ruin, so that the orchidist does not know whether he 
will be rich or poor the coming morning. 

Other fruits are grown around Riverside. Prunes, olives and 
English walnuts are much cultivated, and for the last two years 
lemons have been successful. Different sections are specially 
adapted for special vegetation. In Orange County is a soil 
famous for its celery. It is so spongy that the horses who 
work it are shod with broad, wooden shoes to keep them from 
being swamped in the soil. The growth of celery from this 
tract is phenominal. Near Riverside is a plantation of 6ocx) 
acres, owned by an English company, on which they are grow- 
ing Caniagre, or Tan Plant, which they pretend will take the 
place of oak-bark for tanning leather and do' its work more 
quickly. Wise men say it bears the same relation to the oak 
or hemlock that the "Wine Plant," of unhappy memory, did to 
the grape. This valley is full of enthusiasts, often failing; ever 
hopeful. The production of fruit and vegetables is enormous; 
for drouth and excessive rains are never feared ; but the trouble 
is to find a market. There are no near-by cities, like Philadel- 
phia, New York and Baltimore to take the surplus, so at great 
expense they rush their products long distances to find sale ; 



196 AROUND SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA. 

the expenses of freight and commission leaving the farmers 
small margin. 

The road back from San Bernardino was the same I traveled 
in 1858. Shall I draw those odious comparisons again ? I 
cannot help doing so ! Now rushing up the valley in crowded 
steam-cars ; then I was on a solitary "march to the sea," near 
ninety miles away. Where now are tract after tract of orchard 
and vineyard, town after town and cities of ten thousand peo- 
ple, then stretched sixty miles of chapparal and pasture-lands, re- 
lieved by the small towns of San Bernardino, San Gabriel and 
El Monte, and a few ranches. Here unbounded hospitality was 
once granted strangers, but its abuse by Americans had soured 
the Mexican ranch owners, and they got scant courtesy. 
Till the **gringo" came the valley was a scene of pastoral con- 
tent, and the ox-cart of wood and leather, the wooden plow and 
brush harrow, the tomalcs, tortillas and chile-con-carne were all 
that high and low cared for m implements and diet. All were 
natural horsemen and their skill and accoutrements were 
marvels ! 

In all my sixty-mile walk to Los Angeles I did not meet a 
vehicle of any sort, and this was a main highway. A few horse- 
men or two were all I saw of human kind except the wild 
vaqueros galloping around and among the herds. The hun- 
dreds of cattle and horses pasturing the plain are well remem- 
bered. In day time, even, the cattle were dangerous to meet. 
But at night ! I have reason to recall a rush of these across 
my path through the darkness as I passed over this same 
ground on my former journey. The landmarks were few ; 
ranch buildings from twelve to twenty miles apart, an occasional 
live-oak and then fringes of stunted timber along the dry ar- 
royas, or water-courses. Only the high Sierra flanking the 
valley reminded me of my former visit. Cultivated land, 
orchards, fine ranch buildings, towns ; who would have thought 
this the same country ? A typical town was Ontario, near 



CALIFORNIA REVISITED. I97 

whose site, or over it, I passed on my lonely tramp. It has 
5000 people, a collegje, an electric light and trolley system cost- 
ing ^95,000; and two holes bored in the mountain, back of it, 
one a mile, and the other a mile and a half deep, or will be when 
finished, from which water is pouring to beautify the town and 
enrich the country around. I give a view of Ontario and 
vicinity to show how the **desert has blossomed" since I passed 
over it on my pilgrimage of forty years ago — a sample of the 
sixty miles between San Bernardino and Los Angeles. 

On the 2 1st we went to Santa Monica. This is a sea-side re- 
sort ; but on account of the undertow, cold water and stony 
beach is not all those interested painted it. There is a large 
Soldiers' Home a mile back and, while my friends tried the dis- 
appointing sea-bath, I sat with a group of veterans listening to 
old-time fighting over of battles. There is a pathos about these 
left-overs of the wars, that struck me as never before. Although 
well clad and fed, and housed in **palatial style," an almshouse 
is suggested as they listlessly saunter around the Home Park. 
Many of these veterans have drinking habits and when pension- 
day comes they go for the saloons of Santa Monica and scandal- 
ize the well behaved until the citizens look on the whole with 
contempt and seem to forget that these men once stood between 
them and national ruin. 

Alas, the blue and brass ! once the marks of proud comrade- 
ship and tokens for outside envy and admiration here seemed a 
badge of dependence and disfavor. Some of these almoners 
were content with their lot ; but many complained of their food, 
the exactions of their petty officers, in enforcing military disci- 
pline and other matters ; in fact querilous old age seems coming 
on these brave men of yore. I could not help but think, as I 
looked on this group, a thought intensified when I saw the 
many hundreds — there were 3000 at the Home — grouped or 
wandering about when we stopped on our return, that the loss 
by bullets and sickness during the war was by no means all to 



198 AROUND SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA. 

regret. Here was a number of men, equal to many an army 
division during the second year of the war, almost buried from 
society, save as it patronizingly or pityingly looked upon them 
now and then, content to rust away in premature old age ; 
when many of them, numbers I might say, for a good propor- 
tion were between fifty and sixty years old. might have been ^ 
had they not gone into the service, in the active walks of lite. 

We saw a curiosity on the beach at Santa Monica in the 
likeness of two bathing machines. Readers of Dickens have 
known them as belongings of English watering places; but 
they seemed as incongruous here as a Chinaman driving a 
horse. They are houses, swung low on two wheels, in which 
squeamish people take a ride in the water, under the propul- 
sion of quiet sea-horses; and quiet they must be or they might 
soon make mer-men and mer-maids of their fares in the un- 
wadeable depths of the sounding sea. 

On our way back we saw the "stubble" of a crop peculiar to 
Southern California. Both coal and wood are dear here, so it 
pays to raise trees. The Australian Gum, being the fastest 
growing, is most planted and the stumps of a woods of this I 
saw. An acre, four years from setting out, yielded forty cords, 
and as wood brings $8 a cord the profit* can be counted up. 
This yield was told me by a fellow passenger, but I rather 
doubted the story. 

This night my companions left me for home via the Yo 
Semite; so for the balance of the excursion limit of near a 
month, I traveled alone. In my former journey lonely travels 
did not concern me, as long as my physical burdens were not 
too heavy. Sickness and accidents were not looked forward 
to ; but now there were times when I was alone and entirely 
cut loose from those knowing me, who were thousands of 
miles away, when I felt a dread of some grim happening with 
speculations of what would follow. This fortunately occurred 



CALIFORNIA REVISITED. I99 

seldom ; but it was at night, when doleful imaginings run riot. 
The morning brought calm ; so mind-healing is the sun light! 

On the 22d of July I visited the oil district of West Los 
Angeles, two miles away over the hills. The derricks stood 
close together — 300 to 400 in a territory one-fourth of a mile 
wide and a mile long. They average 30 barrels of oil a day, 
worth $1.25 per barrel. It is only fit for fuel or gas. The 
wells run from 100 to 1000 feet deep and while the above pro* 
duct was claimed the pumpage did not show it. By a system 
of cables and cranks, the slack being taken up by heavy 
weights, ten or twelve wells were pumped with one engine. 
The soil is full of asphaltum, which oozes from the soil. It is 
a dirty place; this oil field, and I willingly left it to look at 
West Lake Park with its pretty lake and its surrounding of 
palms and flowers. 



>^3^«H|- 




XI. 



up the Qalifomia Qoafi 

Farewell to orchards, flowers and palms I 
To nooks where reign perrenial calms I 
Again to quest mid mined walls — 
Once busy homes or stately halls-^ 
Where earnest monks their converts made 
And the swart neophyte plied his trade, 
Brown hills to climb, by shores to roam 
While each day brings me nearer home. 

'HE warning words on my excursion ticket, that I must 
be at Philadelphia by the 17th of August under penalty 
of having the paste-board confiscated on the named 
date told me that the time for parting had come, so I made 
ready to say good-bye to Los Angeles and its surroundings. 
The morning of the 22d, with the early mass bell of Our Lady, 
the Queen of the Angels making the air vibrant with calls to 
the faithful, saw me on my Northward road. Our route lay 
between mountains and much of the way along the Los 
Angeles river ; half dried up between drowth and robbery for 
irrigating the neighboring lands. When I was here before 
there was much contention between the country and town 
about the water ; but then it was the vineyards which were 
being watered at the expense of Los Angeles ; now the or- 
chards. The bed of sand, called river, fronting the city is any- 
thing but a thing of beauty, from the large amount taken 

(206) 



rtramam 



CALIFORNIA REVISITED. 201 

from it to sprinkle streets, water gardens and yards and for 
house use. It is simply wonderful what irrigation will do. 
AH but the most sandy soil is responsive to water in luxurious 
crops ; the trouble, as I have before said, is to market them. 
Efforts have been made to profitably ship green fruits to 
Europe ; and they have arrived in London in fifteen days in 
refrigerator cars and cold-storage steamers, in good condition ; 
but from expenses nothing was left for the shippers. 

One of my side excursions on the road up the coast was to 
the old San Fernando Mission ; less than two miles from the 
railroad. Among the many Eastern travelers few seemed to 
know of these ruins, or, if aware of them, rushed on to see 
travel-worn sights. Train men are inexcusably ignorant of 
many interesting landmarks along their lines and seem to 
think their duty done when the tickets are punched with more 
or less care. At San Fernando station I left the train and I 
started at once for the dismantled Mission, and was soon 
through the outskirts of the little railway town. Two school 
houses ; one a small one, the other a graded school of some 
pretensions, halted my attention as being out of proportion in 
such a thinly settled neighborhood. Passing over a broad 
road, lined with eucalyptus trees, a half hour brought me to 
San Fernando. 

After the establishment of the Missions of Santa Barbara 
and San Gabriel, it was thought by the fathers that the span 
of travel between needed a supporting pier ; lest the mountain 
gentiles might break it; so in 1797 another station was laid 
out for the salvation and enlightenment of the savages. A 
fertile tract selected was known as the Rancho Reyes. Amid 
the usual ceremonies the Mission was formally dedicated under 
the name of San Fernando Rey ; after the canonized king of 
Spain, Fernando Third. The present buildings were erected 
in 1806, and their ruins, even, show the skill of the Indian con- 
verts under the teachings of the Franciscan Fathers. 



202 UP THE CALIFORNIA COAST. 

I found the ruins of San Fernando the most extensive and 
picturesque among the Missions. They covered, independent 
of the garden-walls, twenty acres. The main buildings alone^ 
in an irregular way, were 420 by 175 feet, as one long struc- 
ture continued or intersected another. The Monastery was 
60 by 240 feet, with an ell shaped building cornering to it 120 
by 180. Adjoining this was the roofless church 36 by 180 and 
bell tower 24 by 36 feet, besides a smaller wing. The church 
walls were six feet thick and thirty feet high. The inside 
showed pillars and niches for statuary and panels for pictures. 
The roof was gone except the ridge-pole and rafters on one 
side. The cross-beams were 12 by 18 inches and 36 feet long. 
The timbers were well preserved ; in our climate they would 
have rotted long ago. How they were brought from the 
mountains and raised to their places with the crude appliances 
of those times seems wonderful. The choir-loft timbers were 
mostly gone and the tiled floor, once thronged with worship- 
pers, grown with weeds and scattered with debris from the 
ruined roof. The large Monastery where the Monks lived and 
the stores were kept, and spinning, weaving and the finer arts 
carried on was a noble example of early Californian architec- 
ture, as shown in its corridor of nineteen arches. The red tiled 
roof adds to its picturesqueness. A chapel occupies one end ; 
but the Chinese ranch-cook could not let me in ; in fact took 
as little interest in the ruins as two or three whites I saw 
around there, and was as little disposed to politeness. The 
connecting buildings were going to ruin fast. I noticed that 
the roof-timbers were in places lashed together with raw-hide 
ropes like those of Dolores, a common fashion where cattle 
could be had for the killing and iron was scarce. Coarse reeds 
made a bed for the tiles, which hung over the eaves so pre- 
cariously as to endanger life for those walking underneath. 

I give a bird's-eye view of the Monastery roof ; showing how 
the tiles are laid ; and giving the reader an idea of the immense 



CALIFORNIA REVISITED. 2O3 

weight represented by a half acre of such semi-cylindrical 
specimens of burned clay. The rough bedding of the tiles 
was sometimes hidden bv raw-hides stretched from rafter to 
rafter. 

Fronting the Monastery was what had been a handsome 
fountain ; but now mouldy and disfigured by age and neglect. 
The basin was twenty feet across and four deep, and rising 
from it was a series of carved bowls tapering up a shaft over 
which water brought from the distant mountains once plashed 
and sparkled. On one side was a well like the one from which 
the woman of Samaria filled her water jar and here the village 
women surrounding it once replenished their own as they re- 
counted the neighborhood gossip, or their own perplexities one 
to another ; and here in the cool of the evening the Monks 
paced to and fro in religious meditation, or planning the mor- 
rows duties ; while the water melodiously dropped in the foun- 
tain. I think while the orchards, vineyards and gardens were 
in their prime San Fernando must have been delightful to look 
upon. Water was brought in pipes and open ways from the 
adjacent range, and from its application the earth yielded 
bounteously of its hidden stores. Grain, an hundred fold, 
pastures which made cattle and sheep wax fat, fruits of all 
kinds, gave San Fernando note ; while the wine, trodden by 
the dusky feet of the pressers, and aged for years, was the talk 
of travelers who freely partook of the Mission fare, as they 
journeyed up the coast from San Diego to far north Dolores. 
Ruined houses were scattered around ; some mere piles of dis. 
solved adobes, enough to have homed five or six hundred 
people. There was but one habitable, and that barely so, and 
in it dwelt two women, the remnant of the hundreds of dusky 
Indian converts who once gave the Mission busy life. One 
was Josafa — Hosafa — aged one hundred and nine, and her 
daughter Felicita whose years I did not ask. What pretty 
names! but sur-names they had none ; **el custombra del pais*' 



204 UP THE CALIFORNIA COAST. 

— the custom of the country, now as of old ; but how few to 
whom it is applicable ; for, the way they are going, the Mexi- 
can-Indian's passing will soon be. To think of Josafa being 
nine years old when Padre Lascuen, whose grave I saw at 
Carmelo, dedicated the Mission in 1797? and a blushing girl 
of sixteen at the erection of the present buildings in 1804. 
She was baptized, grew up, lived at the nunnery under the eye 
of its aged prioress, wove and spun ; said her prayers at the 
ring of the angelus ; passed through score after score of years, 
as others passed through decades ; in which there was mar- 
riage, children and death, and now, a poor withered left-over* 
she was answering my questions through Felicita as well as 
her thick sp>eech, dulled ear and mind of second-childhood 
would allow ; an example of human endurance. Fain would 
I have learned direct from her the doings of the far past here, 

** When in their newnes rose the Mission towers 
And white Presidio, 
Their swart commander in his leathern jerkin, 
The priest in stole of snow/' 

but her infirmities and my indifferent Spanish, even when 
helped out by the giddy seventy-year old Felicita, prevented 
satisfactory quest. 

Around the Mission garden, now a wheat field, was a wall, 
or its ruins, two miles long. That left standing was eight feet 
high and had been ten. The sun-dried bricks to build it, 
counting their size, 4x12x24, must have numbered 250,000, 
and taking a man's daily work at 100 bricks, a convict's 
**stent" was 70, it took 2500 days, for one man, to make them. 
There was another garden wall of half that length, and taking 
that, with the material in the Mission buildings and dwellings 
the item of bricks alone was great. Then the tile making, 
acqueduct building, and other work outside of farming and 
herding, show what these late wandering heathen could do. 
The records note that there were but 614 people at the Mis- 
sion at the time of building. How the small number of men 
represented by this total did so much is a marvel. 



CALIFORNIA REVISITED. 20$ 

Belonging to San Fernando in 1826 there were 57,000 head 
of cattle, 1500 horses and 64,000 sheep. This was about the 
height of the Mission's prosperity. Taking into account that 
this was but one of the many similar establishments scattered 
along the coast we can form some idea of the work of the early 
Jesuits and later San Franciscans. 

In the old garden I saw some olive trees near one hundred 
years old* The olive is long lived ; even to 250 years* In 1800 
a large grove was planted at San Fernando ; 500 trees in all. 
There are 400 of these left yet, in spite of the neglect follow* 
ing the dismantling of the Spanish Missions. They were 
seemingly in irreclaimable decadence in 1881, when they were 
closely pruned, and then so increased in bearing that they 
now yield twenty tons of fruit. Here are three palm trees, a 
hundred years old* Two of them stood together, their fronded 
heads sixty feet above the plain. One was three feet across 
the trunk. They are called the Palms of San Fernando and 
are noted landmarks. In isolation looking across at the dis* 
tant ruins, and old enough to tell the tale of the rise progress 
and decay of San Fernando they seemed like ghosts of the 
dim past. With its fruits and flowers; trees and vines; foun- 
tains and shady walks; what a paradise, this hundred-acre gar- 
den must have seemed ! Why walled we can only guess. Per- 
haps to ward off the cold winds from some of the more sensi- 
tive vegetation ; perhaps to keep off wild beasts. Two men I 
sought information from knew nothing. They were void of 
sentiment and look at me with tolerant wonderment as I ques* 
tioned and walked off for farther research. With such Ameri* 
cans what could I expect from Mexicans and Chinese. 

In looking around I saw a house among the trees and know* 
ing there must be fruit about, and it being the time the rich 
call lunch and the poor dinner, and feeling content with hermit 
fare for my mid-day meal, I went to seek the same. My first 
greeting was the cry of a little girl of two years ; the next the 



206 UP THE CALIFORNIA COAST. 

bark of a dog. Children out in such wildernesses seem like to 
the young of wild animals; instinct shows them when danger 
is near and they cry for help. The young mother, pleasant 
looking, hastened out of the house and stilled the cry of child 
and dog. The family was from Kansas where they had a 
farm, but drowth and hard times made them abandon it to 
seek another home. She told me to help myself to the fruit, 
be it apricots or oranges ; they could hardly sell them. 
Though late for this fruit the oranges were a sight. I saw 
them four inches in diameter under the trees going to waste. 
Above were others as large mingled with the green and yellow- 
ing fruit. An apricot orchard nearby showed a large yield 
under irrigation. As the saying goes, "Tickle the ground 
with a hoe and it will laugh with a harvest." Pluralize hoe to 
hose and the change would meet the case here ; for irrigation 
does wonders. It was a lonely place for this transplanted 
family, on the outskirts of these solemn ruins; but pioneers 
school themselves to their surroundings. Around the house 
were large sunflowers, the floral emblem of Kansas, the every- 
day sight of which must have done these exiles good. They 
were going East again as soon as conditions there changed. 

Repassing the fountain I thought of the lively scenes at sun- 
down, when the men and cattle came home from their work; 
when the women moved to and fro under their poised water 
jars, and the Ramonas and Francescas among them cast sheep 
eyes at the Pablos and Juans as they came in from their plow- 
ing and reaping. Then around again by flanking ruins to the 
roofless church with its displaced, leaning timbers and crumb- 
ling walls. 

The columns once supporting the cloister-front were all 
down but one. These had extended a hundred feet and con- 
nected the church with the Monastery. The lines of these 

three buildings reached over 500 feet; and, except the last, 
were a mass of ruins, showing breached walls, fallen pillars and 
heaps of crumbling adobes and scattered tiles. 




CALIFORNIA REVISITED. 207 

In a side room of the church I noticed a wall-space painted 
blood-red, and on this, in black letters around a skull and 
cross-bones, "Texano ! Who dares to deface these walls, be- 
ware !" There was so much of the dime-novel and melo-drama 
about this that I experienced a sort of a creeping sensation, 
and unconsciously looked around for the Avenger who might 
mistake me for the desecrating Texan, and hence departed. 

In the rear of the church was a small grave-yard ; some of 
the graves surrounded with pickets, singly as is common in 
isolated burying grounds in the wild, far west; others with up- 
ended tiles, for head-stones, sanctified by once having covered 
the church, and now and then a freshly painted cross. There 
was something pathetic in the way these graves were crowded 
to the church-wall, as if the souls of the dead would rest more 
peacefully were the bodies in its shadow. The decoration of 
graves with flowers is a Mexican observance. The fierce noon- 
day suns antagonize this, but the custom is kept up. In wreaths 
and in water jars these were on the newer mounds. The water 
was dried up and the wreaths withered ; but doubtless the 
friends of the dead would replace them. Where these live I 
know not, for Mexicans are scarce around San Fernando. Two 
of the graves had head-boards and showed hie jocet 

"Rafael Miranda 
Natural de Opodepe, Kstado de Sonora, Mexico 

Kellicio 
El dia 37 de Mayo, de 1883, Al Aedad de 23." 
Also— 

"Dolores Bermudes 

De Santa Cruz, Sonora, Mexico 

Fellicio 

El dia 34 de Feb. de 1892, Al Aedad de 60." 

The expression — Fellicio^ made happy, on the dates named— 
was touching, and Mexican in its idea of death. I would like 
to think they were lovers, buried together, by request, where 
they died, far from their homes ; but their ages forbade the 
thought. The head-boards were fresh painted and lettered, 



208 UP THE CALIFORNIA COAST. 

showing that the dead had been people of account in compari- 
son with the lowly ones around. 

But I must leave this melancholy place. The dropping tiles 
and crumbling walls ; the weed grown floors, fallen timbers, and 
silent bell tower; the little grave-yard with its mounds of sand, 
leaning crosses and withered flowers are accenting my lonely 
feelings and fostering a depression which drives me away. 

But before leaving San Fernando I must give some statistics 
concerning it. The original tract was 170 square miles in ex- 
tent. After the dismantling of the Missions it was sold to one 
Eulogio Celis, and the bulk of it afterwards to G. K. Porter and 
Brother, now known as the Porter Land and Water Company, 
who sell or rent the land with water privileges. This tract is 
made fruitful by irrigation. There are one thousand acres in 
with orchards; the rest grain and pasture lands. What seemed 
a broad, flat pile of straw in front of the Monastery attracted my 
attention. Examination proved it 30,000 sacks of wheat worth 
$57,000, ready for shipment; covered with straw to keep ofif 
sun and fog. Rain does not enter the calculations of the Cali- 
fornia farmer in summer. Grain, hay and sugar beets are 
hauled on open cars, and farm machinery is 'housed" from one 
year's end to the other in the "big wagon house." 



Since I was at San Fernando the Landmarks Club has paid 
it a beneficent visit. To those who do not know this organiza- 
tion I will say that two years ago a few citizens of Southern 
California convened and formed the nucleus of an association 
for the preservation of the Mission buildings between San Diego 
and San Francisco. These were fast going to ruin and were 
marked by falling and bulging walls, roofs wholly fallen in, or 
with deeply frayed edges from dropping tile ; collapsing arches 
and towers, and floors grown with weeds or full of rubbish. A 
picture of the San Fernando church taken ten years ago shows 
several columns standing where now is but one, and in a few 





N FHRNANDO. 
4 and put ia oilKiaal condition (ia.ciio tUcH nicd, lurfkce }, 



CALIFORNIA REVISITED. 2O9 

more years, for the loosening of the tiles were so exposing the 
walls that they were going in arithmetical progression, 
many of the buildings would have been past saving. Besides 
owners of large tracts, ranches of which the Missions were at 
one time the active centers, were closing in around the ruins* 
and it was a question of how soon these once sturdy walls of 
six foot thickness would be dynamited to their native earth. 

Only those who have seen these immense buildings, designed 
by those who learned their trade under inspiration from the 
picturesque architecture of Moorish Spain, tottering to near-by 
ruin, can know what the efforts and accomplishments of the 
"Landmarks Club" mean.* The size of some of these buildings 
is wonderful, considering the circumstances attending their 
erections, and show how full of hope for the salvation of the 
surrounding heathen were the San Franciscan Monks who 
planned and built them ; for their initial success led the Fathers 
to think their Indian converts would continue to increase till 
the Church in Old Spain would be duplicated in numbers on 
the shores of the Northern Pacific, and they built up to their 
hopes. The Monastery of San Juan Capistrano — near San 
Diego — shows corridors 400 feet long, with a church and con- 
necting buildings of corresponding sizes. The roof of the San 
Fernando Monastery is a half acre in extent. Two acres of 
open buildings have been covered by the Landmarks Club 
since it started in 1896, when San Juan was repaired. It was 
almost past hope, but the church and Monastery, with its noble 
corridors, are roofed and saved, and the subordinate buildings 
are under care through clamped and buttressed walls. With 
but $3000 raised, for this is a prosaic, utilitarian age, even in 
the Californian land of Romance, all this has been done. 
Where means fell short, wooden sheathing was applied whereon 
to place tiles when they could be afforded. The rescued build- 



♦I give several illustrations of the Mission buildings of San Fernando showing their de- 
cay, ruin and the results of efforts to save them. 



2IO UP THE CALIFORNIA COAST. 

ings will last another hundred years and the others will be 
roofed as soon as the annual dues and contributions will suffice. 
The decaying buildings have a pathetic appearance and it will 
be a credit to California, whose people, Mexican and Anglo 
Saxon, for sixty years, actively and passively have been com- 
passing their destruction, when they are saved and restored. 
Under the care of experts in the architecture of the period of 
their erection the buildings are to look as in the old Mission 
days. 

Away from Mission ruins and memories and back to life at 
San Fernando Station. Then on to Saugus where the railroad 
forks, inland to San Francisco and westward to the coast. 
Saugus is a sun-dried place, composed of a station house and 
water tank. Mexicans and Indians work on the line for one 
dollar a day. Jesus, pronounced Kay-siise, is a name common 
among these people, and so applied jars on a **gringo's" ears; 
though the effect is modified by the Spanish pronunciation- 
A cut-throat looking fellow at the station, thus addressed, 
caused a startle from the incongruous misnomer — the call 
sounded Uike an oath ! Mountains are all around us. Pico 
Pico is the highest. On the ea.st is the Sierra Madre ; on the 
north and west are San Francisquito, Las Palomas — the doves 
— and San Feliciano. What sweet sounding names the Mission 
Fathers gave to mountain, river and town ? 

After a tedious wait at Saugus, a place all travelers for Santa 
Barbara will remember as being one of the most difficult places 
wherein to kill time, the Los Angeles train came at last, and 
was soon bearing us down the Santa Clara Valley, whose river 
starts from the 7000 feet-long tunnel, we passed through three 
miles back, and which we follow to Ventura on the coast. Be- 
fore six o'clock we came to Camulus. and what reader of 
Ramona will not remember this ; for here its leading character 
lived and loved ; and here had their fictitious being the Senora 
Morena, Felipe and Alisandro, the lover, and Juan Can, Marda 



CALIFORNIA REVISITED. 211 

and Margarita. Here is the cottage of Ramona. The guide- 
book says so. Alas ! I did not see it. Too much intent on 
questioning a fellow passenger I missed it. But one cannot do 
and see everything. As to Ramona I can remark, in the words 
of Betsy Prig, **I don't believe there was no such person !" 
Therefore I did not "really, truly" miss seeing the cottage. A 
lady who claimed to know, in alluding to the author of 
Ramona, says her California neighbors did not think her all her 
admirers painted her; that she snubbed her own sex to give 
preference to literary men ; that when her husband came home 
from the absences such men are driven to she found excuses to 
travel ; in fact that she was the type of the traditional smart 
married person ; when the party of the second part must take a 
back seat and be thankful for the conjugal crumbs which in- 
directly might fall from the marital table. But the time came, as it 
nearly always does, for a general shaking and evening up. The 
Spare man, a misnomer, I admit ; for he spares none ; came 
along with his scythe and did not pass by on the other side 
when he saw "H. H." She died and Mr. H. H. didn't. It is 
better to be a living nobody than a dead queen — sometimes. 
He did more than live ; he married again, and to her niece i 
Alas ! another iconoclast ; another idol, or rather ideal, broken ! 
But great minds sometimes claim they are laws unto themselves 
in morals and manners. Napoleon, Byron, Dickens — general, 
poet, novelist, are examples of these ; and why not "H. H ?" 

But, making the matter impersonal, the subject of the author 
in Ramona is inexhaustable. Any one who has studied up the 
California Missions from their inception to their downfall, or 
traveled among their ruins, mural or human, must be impressed 
by the way Helen Hunt Jackson has handled her subject; so if 
I have treated my passage through Camulus lightly, I must 
add I wQuld have been happy to have spent enough time there 
to familiarize myself with Ramona's home and its picturesque 
surroundings. 



212 UP THE CALIFORNIA COAST. 

You come across a varied assortment of travelers in Cali- 
fornia cars. A person who got on at Saugus brought along a 
combination of instruction and amusement. This was a woman, 
tall and angular ; her gray hair cut short and topped off with an 
untrioimed straw hat. At one time I would have called her old, 
but when one gets in the decade before the Psalmist's fateful 
year he will realize that old age is a relative term, and only ap- 
plies, like fever and ague in new countries, to sections "over 
the range." She might have been sixty-five or seventy ; what 
matter ? If we are not there now we'll get there, if we live ; at 
any rate I did not ask her age. There is, as in the sheriff's 
trade, a place to draw the line. One thing is certain, she did 
not "make up" to simulate youth. 

Being neighbors we got to talking, when I learned she ran a 
bee-ranch ; and interesting was her description of those hot- 
tempered, hot-footed insects; their habits, customs and man- 
ners. Her home was in a canyon — miles from a railroad, where 
her charge could have shelter from fog and wind ; the foes of 
bees, and where there was plenty of pasture. Here they im- 
proved the shining hours by gathering honey all the day, if 
not from every opening flower, from locust and wild-sage and 
other more prosaic bloom which did as well. This she put up 
in sixty-pound cans and shipped to San Francisco, and made 
money selling it at four and a half cents a pound. There are 
10,000 hives in the county, Ventura, and the annual product 
has been as much as 1500 tons. There is no rest for the bees, 
who gather sweets the year round. 

My informant was an enthusiast on the bee question. She 
said she loved her proteges as she did her own family. I was 
at a loss to know whether my Bee-woman, as she is known in 
my memory, was maid, wife or widow, until she told me her 
husband ran a hog-ranch a hundred miles away, whom she saw 
every year or so. Whether he held the same sentiments 
towards his charge that she did to hers I don't know. 



CALIFORNIA REVISITED. 21$ 

From bees we shifted our talk to religion ; why, I can't say, 
except from some sort of conversational evolution, through 
them to idleness and thence to Satan. The Bee-woman was a 
Seventh-day, Second Adventist, a term ringing with numerical 
adjectives ; and meaning she had a composite belief of Seventh- 
day Baptism and Second Adventism ; I hope I make myself 
clear. California is full of religious isms. Sects which are rare 
East thrive there; in numbers if not in membership. This 
branch of the Adventist has a college in Sonoma county, which 
shows it must have some strength. 

The Bee- woman was as full of Scripture as of bee-lore, and 
when I remarked her aptness at quotation mourned her Biblical 
ignorance, as a hostess does her poor cookery when she wants 
it praised ; and, to prove it, fired a second volley of texts to 
show her belief was right. She certainly was posted on Scrip- 
ture ; especially that portion pertaining to the Lord's day, and 
in proof of Christ's second coming. One belief is all one cares 
generally to defend but she easily took care of two. Did they 
have Sunday schools in her church ? No, but they had Sab- 
bath schools! Living so far from town she rarely got to meet- 
ing, but when her loved Seventh-day came around she held 
service alone; except as her family of bees drove off loneliness, 
and worshipped the same God as did other Christians, and I 
feel certain, with as much sincerity. She said it was wrong to 
observe Sunday, a day ordained by the Emperor Constantine 
and not by the Lord. She arraigned the makers of laws which 
compelled her to keep two holidays a week ; calling it religious 
persecution, and saying the Bible was her justification in her 
dual belief She talked until the train reached her station and 
left for her mountain home. Now with such aural entertain- 
ment does the reader wonder I passed Ramona's home un- 
heeded ? 

So much for my Bee-woman ; undoubtedly a sincere, hard- 



214 UP THE CALfFORNIA COAST. 

working, self-supporting person ; but I did think it would be 
nice if a locality could be found where Hog and Honey could 
harmonize as well as the two creeds in the lady's religion. 

The Santa Clara Valley was great as a producer of beans as 
well as honey. Ventura county in 1895 raised $1,000,000 
worth. The annual product of Limas is estimated at 30,000 
tons. Think of a 2000 acre bean patch! I forbear mentioning 
Boston. But Ventura is a land flowing with much besides 
Beans and Honey. Oranges, Lemons, Figs, Walnuts, Olives as 
well as stone-fruit, grow in profusion. 

At Statacoy we stopped for supper. From the excitement 
around the station and the water running down the street I 
thought an irrigating dam had sprung a leak ; but a flowing 
artesian well had been struck instead, and its bursting forth had 
caused the commotion. These wells are the life of the country. 
There is much jealousy among rival settlements, and when one 
develops a copious flowing well it means beans, and walnuts ; 
grain, vegetables and fruits, and the people shout with an ex- 
ceeding joy thereat. They bite their thumbs at their envious 
neighbors and boast vaingloriously. This feeling is not known 
in the East, where the rain falls on all alike, and the land is all 
taken up. Here water rights go with the land, and when water 
in flowing quantities is found it means wealth to that section 
and the selling of land at good prices. Following down the 
Santa Clara we saw the sea at Buenaventura. Ever welcome, 
ever new the bright Pacific, whose waves I sailed over here in 
the far past ! The town name is now shortened to Ventura; 
The "poco tiempo" Spaniards had plenty of time to pronounce 
it in extcnso ; the Yankees have not. Here I saw the old Mis- 
sion church; now renovated; but I only had a passing glance ; 
showing the same pleasing style of architecture of the other 
Mission buildings along the coast. There was the chapel and 
the usual corridored Monastery at right angles ; built of stone 



CALIFORNIA REVISITED. 21$ 

and in a good state of preservation. The old Mexican element 
is well represented at Ventura and on church days the gather- 
ings are remindful of the far past. A flourishing Mission was 
once here; the live-stock in 1825 numbering 43,000, and in 
1835, at secularization, there were 800 Indians. At Carpen- 
teria, farther on, we come into an oil district where there is a re- 
finery. Here, towards the mountains, there are immense beds 
of asphaltum; the amount being estimated, in modest Cali- 
fornia way, at 8,000,000 tons. In Summerland, near Santa 
Barbara, the oil region invades the sea. Along shore and from 
the water 150 derricks arise ; all in the space of a few acres, and 
looking in the darkening twilight like the masts and shrouds of 
ships. 

It was dark when we got to Santa Barbara. Here I had 
friends expecting me ; a pleasure in anticipation, and well 
realized. A pleasant evening was passed in their home circle. 
I was tireii from my walks around San Fernando and my talks 
in getting information ; so that jotting down my day's experi- 
ence was a weariness to the flesh ; but I got through by mid- 
night, and the sleep of the weary which followed made me 
ready for the morrow's sight-seeing. 

My friend, who on account of the health of a daughter, is for 
an indefinite time at Santa Barbara, procured a carriage and we 
had a delightful ride around this rare old town. One of the 
first places visited was Fremont's Headquarters. A town with- 
out this landmark is an oddity in California. Along the shores 
of Mission Creek, near the beach, is Burton's Mound; an eleva- 
tion where the Indians one hundred years ago or more buried 
their dead, and cart-loads of pottery with them. Some of the 
vessels are very large. On the summit is a modernized adobe 
house. Here is a sulphur spring and the place was bought 
whereon to erect a hotel, but this never got beyond the plans. 
We saw many of the tiled adobes of Dana's time ; some in fair 
preservation ; some in ruins ; all picturesque. It is a fad for 



2l6 VP THE CALIFORNIA COAST. 

the wealthy to buy up the old tiles wherewith to cover their 
new buildings ; making a boom in this semi-cylindrical, cinna- 
mon-bark shaped earthen-ware. It will detract from Santa 
Barbara when the adobes with their tiled roofs and low porticos 
are torn down. This place had its boom, but it failed. It was 
an unnatural eflfort. It was intended for a sleepy town, where 
the lovers of the quaint and beautiful in architecture and na- 
ture, as well as invalids, could pa.ss a section of their time, or 
end their days. But the boomers would not have that, so they 
tore down the red-roofed cottages of gray ; widened the streets; 
built water-works and planned a fine hotel on Burton's Mound, 
Verily, 

**City lots were staked 
Where once were Indian graves." 

A future metropolis was in sight; real estate went up, but 
the bubble burst, and great was the burst thereof; so the Indian 
bones rest undisturbed by cellar foundations. A resort for 
the wealthy and unhealthy is all Santa Barbara aspires to now ; 
and it is not disappointed ; for hither these come from all parts ; 
even from beyond seas ; a pleasant place wherein to live or die. 

Our drive continued to the shore and along the beach. The 
sea again, charming in calm or storm ! Sparkling and bright 
the waves lapped the shore and in undulations stretched south- 
ward until they reached the outlying islands which make the 
harbor of Santa Barbara. The largest of these is sixteen miles 
long; they are private property and used as sheep ranges. 
Santa Cruz and Santa Rosa are the most important. The first 
eastward trend of the coast below the Alaskan Peninsula com- 
mences at Point Concepcion, and Santa Barbara being in a cen- 
tral point gets the benefit of its southern exposure ; making it 
unsurpassed for climate and the surrounding country famous for 
fruit. 

When I passed up the coast before, Santa Barbara had no 
harbor facilities. Goods were landed in small boats. The 



California revisited. 2 if 

town now has a good wharf; a pier extending 2200 feet to deep 
water. It is owned by a company. From this point the main 
street extends; starting in quietude and ending in peace. 
There is no blocking of the wharf with drays ; no swearing of 
hurrying teamsters; no racing of ambitious horsemen. The 
most conspicuous object I saw was a tame Pelican. Other 
places have their Town Pumps and their Town Drunkards > 
Santa Barbara has its Town Pelican who walks the pavement 
with a conscious pride. "Have you seen our Pelican?" is a 
question asked of tourists. And the Barbarenos may well 
boast of him. Quiet in demeanor; large in bulk, and baggy o* 
pouch, which for the benefit of curious strangers he allows the 
officious small boy to stretch to show its piscal storage 
capacity. No steam-whistles break on the ear, for there are no 
factories to need them ; at least I saw none. There is a list- 
lessness in the air which smothers competition among the store- 
keepers. Do/ce far niente is everywhere ; let us go fishing to 
day; to-morrow may never come! In our eastern cities exist- 
ence is one continuous, life-wearing attrition. Here in lovely 
Santa Barbara it moves in smooth channels ; suggestive of 
length of days and a peaceful hereafter. Were I a Californian 
I would dwell in Santa Barbara — if I had enough to live on. It 
requires but a short sojourn here to know why the restored to 
health become permanent citizens ; but let these last words 
have no mortuary suggestiveness. "See Santa Barbara and 
die" is not the invalids cry ; rather see it and live ! 

There are fine hotels in this town, as well as beautiful 
suburban homes ; but the attraction, to all but superficial 
tourists, is the Santa Barbara Mission. With its spreading 
wings of church and Monastery and twin towers it is a con- 
spicuous landmark, whether seen from the sea in white-filled 
outlines against the Santa Ynez Mountains, or from the east 
and west approaches. Visiting or departing it inspires the lover 
of the picturesque. 



21 8 UP THE CALIFORNIA CX>AST. 

Its seclusion, together with the tact and forethought of its 
caretakers, saved it for a long time from the wreckage of secu- 
larization, and to-day it is the best preserved Mission on the 
coast. This is partly owing to a fund raised by both Protes- 
tants and Catholics residing here for its restoration ; the one 
sect from religious zeal ; the other to add attraction to the 
town. Extensive additions are now being made in the line of 
its early architecture; tiles being used for roofing. A convent 
of San Franciscan Monks is here established ; some twenty of 
the order, with close cropped heads ; coarse gowns girdled 
with ropes, and sandled feet can be seen wandering about the 
buildings, cemetery and garden, and picturesque they seemed, 
and are ever kind and courteous to the curious traveler. The 
main building is substantially constructed of stone ; the walls 
six feet thick. If my clerical friend from Monterey had been 
along he would have said it was built thus to be used as a fort 
in the coming time when the two prominent Christian sects will 
come to war, and that the monks in their kindness had some 
deep design ; that in the dungeons below were racks and other 
machinery for conversion. Up the bell tower ran a circular 
stone stairway ; hard to mount but the reward was great in the 
view obtained. The bells were quaintly inscribed and had been 
given near a century ago by pious devotees of Spain to her 
faithful missionaries in the California wilderness, and had since 
without interruption called the faithful to prayer and praise, for 
there have been no breaks here. Throughout the time other 
Missions had risen, prospered and gone to ruin these had 
swung and pealed ; these 

" Bells of the past whose sulemii, rinjjing music 
Slill fills the wide expanse 
Tinpeinj; the sober iwilip^hl of the present 
With color of romance." 

There were painted images in stone, life size, about the belfry 
representing saints, quaintly carved ; the work of Indian con- 
verts in the long ago. The roofs of the long wings are tile- 



CALIFORNIA REVISITED. 2I9 

covered, as well as the new wing being built for a college. The 
view from the tower was fine ; to the South the sea and its 
islands, to the West La Patera — the duck-pond — with its placid 
stretches of water, and orchards of walnuts and olives beyond; 
to the North the canyoned mountains with their grand syca- 
mores and live-oaks ; to the Southeast Montecito and its beau- 
tiful homes and groves of oranges and lemons, and again the 
gleaming sea ! A Monk showed us around. He was a young 
German ; gentle, polite and instructive. Why he chose this 
aesthetic, secluded life it was not for me to ask. 

Inside, the church was full of interest. Under the floor was 
the grave of Padre Garcia who did so much to save the Mis- 
sion from the spoilers who were breaking down the other es- 
tablishments ; his official hat hanging on the wall above. 
There was an image of the patron saint, Santa Barbara, sur- 
rounded by six columns, and figures of the three Graces ; all 
cut from stone and. as was the custom, painted. Another 
statue, life size, was Mary bending over the dead Christ. This 
was in a curtained alcove. Back of the pulpit were gaudy 
statuary and around the walls were numerous paintings. On 
the right of the altar was a picture, which in one frame, repre- 
sented the World, Heaven and Hell. The first showed life as 
we see it about us ; the second beatific scenes as the realistic 
Christian dreams them, and hopes to see after the dread shuffl- 
ing off; green-shored streams, golden streets, winged angels 
with harps and trumpets ; and the Father, Mother and Son in 
all their radiance. The last scene was Dante's Infierno. And 
such a sight ! Imps of darkness as our childish fancies pic- 
tured them, from claw foot to grinning face and horned skull ; 

from forked tail to pitch-fork ; semblances of wicked humanity 
tortured in all ways; sulphurous fires and glowing lake. Such 
paintings as these did much to appeal to the hearts of the 
simple-minded heathen, and even our friend the Monk, used as 
he was to the surroundings, described with awe and in hushed 
tones. 



220 UP THE CALIFORNIA COAST. 

From a side door we passed out to the cemetery — Holy 
Field, as the Mexicans have it. Over the door-way a skull and 
cross-bones were walled in, in relief; naturally a shocking 
sight, but in keeping with the surroundings. Thousands of 
Indians had been buried here in trenches, and, as the bones 
were bared, dug up and stored in a gruesome building standing 
in a corner of the yard. The elite, the exhalted, in two senses 
of the term, the notable dead, are in above ground tombs» 
strange in appearance, six feet or more high and as wide ; look- 
ing like old-fashioned, out-door ovens, with ornamental fronts. 
One was much larger, and with a vestibule ; and back were 
twenty-one openings, like oven-mouths for the reception of the 
local friars, when done with cowl, gown and sandal. Four of 
these were filled and sealed ; the last with a brother who was 
killed lately by a lunatic. An interesting time we had among 
these quaint resting places of the dead, going slowly to ruin, 
and none but the score of monks to care for them. Some one 
singing in a secluded oook called me there, in thought it was a 
chant of one of the brothers, but it was a young hoodlum of the 
town who had made his way in and was singing a ribald song, 
with a tomb for a perch. I took a glance at the Mission gar- 
den. Here, from some cause women are excluded, although 
exceptions were made in the cases of the Princess Louise, of 
England, and the wife of ex-President Harrison. The inscrip- 
tions in the cemetery were mainly in Spanish and began 
"Yacen los restos" — here lie the remains. 

In the museum of the Mission we saw some interesting relics 
of the past. One was a volume of mass and song services — 
there were seven books in all, each with 218 leaves, and each 
leaf representing a sheep. The parchments showed fine work- 
manship and were 24 by 30 inches. The lettering was done 
with a pen and "in print." It must have taken the patient friars 
years and years on this black letter work ; as musical notes and 
all were as well formed as if from type. The volumes were 



CALIFORNIA REVISITED. 221 

near one hundred years old and it required a flock of 1500 
sheep for the whole set of books, which were the reversal of 
''bound in sheep.** We were shown handiwork of the early In- 
dians ; iron-work in spurs, keys, nails, bolts and hinges ; wood- 
work in doors, implements and carving; samples of weaving 
and pottery; stones for grinding grain; a bed-frame, with hide 
stretched across, such as the monks used in their cells; an 
adobe brick dented, while soft, with a clear imprint of the foot 
ot the mountain lion, and other curiosities. No other Mission 
has such a collection. 

The corridor with its row of cool, shadowy arches brought 
to mind the wedding of the Senorita Gonzaga to General 
Morena, as told in Ramona ; for there the feast was held. "The 
whole country far and near was bid. The feast lasted three 
days ; open table to every body ; singing, dancing, eating, 
drinking and making merry. At that time there were long 
streets of Indian houses stretching eastward from the Mission ; 
before each of these was built a booth of green boughs. The 
Indians, as well as the Fathers from all the other Missions, 
were invited to come. The Indians came in bands singing 
songs and bringing gifts. As they appeared the Santa Bar- 
bara Indians went out to meet them ; also singing, bearing 
gifts, and strewing seeds on the ground in token of welcome. 
The young Senora and her bridegroom splendidly clothed 
were seen of all and greeted whenever they appeared with 
showers of seeds and grain and blossoms. On the third day, 
still in their wedding attire, they walked with the Monks in a 
procession, round and round the new tower, now being dedi- 
cated, the Monks chanting and sprinkling incense and holy 
water on the walls. After this they journeyed in state to 
Monterey, accompanied by priests and officers; stopping at 
all the Missions on the way and being entertained at each." 

From this fine description I come to plain statistics. The 
church proper is 192 by 60 feet ; the corridored adjunct 208 by 



222 UP THE CALIFORNIA COAST. 

60, with thirteen fine arches fronting the plaza. The Mission 
was finished in 1820, and succeeded one shattered by an earth- 
quake in 1812. In front is a fountain ; one of several which 
were once about the Mission. It was now dry on account of 
shortage of water ; so much being used for house use and irri- 
gation. 

There were, in the height of the Mission's prosperity, 250 
adobe dwellings in the Indian village, floored with asphaltum, 
and more comfortable, travelers said, than the white people's 
at the Prisidio ; picturesque in their whitewash and roofs of 
red tiles. These are all gone with those who dwelt therein ; 
adobe to adobe ; dust to dust. The skill of these Indians was 
such that their work was known up and down the coast. 
There were two hundred whose business was working on cloth 
and their dyes won admiration. They were skilled in masonry 
and carpenter work as well as in leather embossing, taught by 
artisans sent up from Mexico. The land from mountain to 
sea was fertile, and in 1828, when an "account of stock" was 
taken, there were 44,000 head of cattle and 20,000 sheep, while 
the Indians numbered 1000. In 1835 the decline, however, 
was noticeable, the number of the last falling to 742. From 
that year the native population fell away fast, on account of 
the loss of priestly control and care. 

A recent writer thus alludes to Mission life. "At daylight, 
all was astir. Those who were able attended mass ; then a 
breakfast of atole, or barley gruel, and at sunrise to their daily 
tasks. At noon came alole again, with mutton and sometimes 
frijoles, or beans. To the sick, or aged, milk was given. Dur- 
ing the heat of the day a burro laded with buckets of sweet- 
ened water went around among the laborers. At six o'clock 
the evening meal was served; similar to dinner, and with nuts 
and berries from the mountain added. 

"There was much of the commune in Mission life. Each 
morning the Granary-master dealt out the day's food to each 



CAUPORNIA RBVISITBD. 223 

worker. The unmarried took theirs to the cook, who prepared 
and served it on the common table. The married carried 
theirs to their homes. Here was the foundation stone of Cali- 
fornia civilization — the family circle. 

"At five o'clock the labors of the day were ended, and man 
and beast plodded homeward. At sundown came the 
'Angelus' calling the faithful to prayer, and priest and layman ; 
monk and neophyte repaired to the chapel where the Litany 
was sung and the evening blessing given. The day was done. 

**Thus the male converts. With the Mission was a nunnery 
in care of a trusted Indian woman. She watched the inmates 
day by day; at night she locked them up. This was necessary 
in the condition of society then. 

**In the court-yard of the nunnery the girls weaved and 
spun ; laughed and chatted and cast sheeps eyes at the Indian 
lads as they passed. This was winked at by the Padres if the 
girls were of proper age. 

'*A11 the cloth that was used at the Mission and much used 
at the Presidios was from the deft fingers of these swarthy 
maidens, besides all blankets, sheets, table-cloths, towels and 
napkins. Thus were they trained as useful house-wives." 

In the afternoon my friend took me on a drive several miles 
down the coast. He was agreeable, congenial and instructive; 
the landscape from sea to mountain to be admired and the 
horse a good traveler. The foot-hills — "falda,** as the 
Spaniards in their happy imagery called these convolutions 
from their resemblance to the trail of a dress-— of the coast 
range were slashed with rugged canyons; beautiful in seasons 
of rain, but now browned with drowth and with but little 
water in the stream-beds to brighten them. Sycamores and 
live-oaks were the prominent woods ; the former so rough and 
gnarley as to seem like another species from our own. The 



224 t^P THB CALIPORKIA COAST. 

air for a while was warm and the dust we stirred up annoying, 
but glances up the grand mountain side, at our shifting sur- 
roundings, and the sea and Channel islands, as rifts through 
the shore lines showed them, m^de us forget discomforts. 
Montecito, a scattered suburb of Santa Barbara, and made up 
of the residences of wealthy people, who ranch for the fun 
there is in it, is an attractive place, follows the country road 
until the mountain shoulders it to the shore line. In and out, 
up and down ; sometimes on the public highway ; sometimes 
on private grounds we fared along. There were fountains and 
ponds ; orchards of oranges, limes and lemons and gardens of 
tropical plants. On a small lake was a summer house, floating 
at anchor. We here hitched our tired horse and went among 
the lemon pickers. The fruit is gathered green and stored in 
special houses until it undergoes a curing process before ship- 
ment. The picker carries something like a napkin-ring, with a 
handle, to guage the size of the lemons, and with a pair of 
shears snips off the fruit which will not go through. Colonel 
Crocker, the dead railroad king, had a lemon orchard here and 
had just built a curing house, costing $10,000. These bene- 
ficiaries of corporation-laws spend their gains right royally. 
We crossed one rustic bridge where the railings, as well as the 
posts, were of stone. The thousands of acres owned by the 
California millionaires, the lavish style in which their owners 
live and their moral escapades are anarchy-breeders among the 
thoughtless and criminal and sources of regret to the well dis- 
posed. The Pacific coast is lined with them ; the owners oc- 
cupying their palaces as the whim siezes them ; then to San 
Francisco ; the East, or to "Gay Paree.** 

At Magee's Ranch — La Parra Granda, how the name of the 
owner jars on that of his domain — we saw the king grape-vine 
of California. The trunk is fifty-two inches in circumference 
and the branches cover 5000 feet of surface and have born five 
tons of grapes in a season. And whence came it? One hun* 



CALIFORNIA REVISITED. 22$ 

dred years ago a Mexican girl left with a party from Sonora 
for Santa Barbara. She was on horseback and her lover gave 
her a switch cut from a grape-vine. She carried it hence and 
being a practical woman stuck it in the ground at "La Parra 
Granda" instead of laying it away as a memento. Well ! like 
Mr. Finney's turnip, it grew, and it grew, until it reached its 
present dimensions, and takes the local prominence of that 
**jolly good fellow," the Santa Barbara Pelican. There is a fig 
tree growing through the trellis and here Patrick McGee can 
sit and exemplify the scriptural quotation. From this ranch 
we came to a fine view of the sea and were soon driving along 
the beach by and through the most charming gardens and 
orchards. Anon we came to Summerland, a Spiritual settle- 
ment of prominence once, but the discovery of oil has put re- 
ligion in the back-ground. The sect was flourishing,, when, 
alas ! the leader "struck it rich ;" lost much of his interest, and 
now the colony is rent in twain. An entertainment by one 
branch was in progress in its hall. In rude contrast to the 
celestial the terrestrial oil-derricks, for boring and pumping, 
were standing thickly around. Even the sea had been invaded, 
showing oil and water will mix ; the old saw to the contrary, 
notwithstanding. It looked odd indeed to see these rising 
from the waves, like the quadrupled "masts of some tall 
Amiral." The sea is shallow here and underlaid with oil, 
which is found at a depth of 250 feet. The derricks are on 
fifty-foot square lots, which sell for about $250. There are 
about 1 50 wells here. The yield seemed small and some of 
the pumps idle ; I judged for want of oil ; but the owners had 
some excuse ; the pumps were clogged, the engine broke, and 
so on. The oil is only fit for fuel or gas, and is worth from 
75 cents to $1 a barrel. There are large asphalt um beds back 
in the country. 

We were soon on our way back to Santa Barbara by the 
shore route ; and such a wealth of ornamental vegetation as 



226 Vr THE CALIFORNIA COAST. 

we passed through ! Palms of various kinds, including those 
bearing dates, like promissory notes, as well as all sorts of 
flowering plants. There were trees of varieties unknown to 
tts : Eucalyptus, Cypress, Camphor, Manzanita, Madrone and 
others. Then the orchards of orange and lemon! Their 
leaves of different shades of green ; their fruitage peeping front 
between ; a golden yellow and varying verdant colors. 

The sea-breeze arose as we neared Santa Barbara and as the 
sprinkler had laid the dust traveling was pleasant. The view 
of scenes on either hand of mountain, sea and vegetation 
almost clogged our senses with its beauty. A glance at the Chan- 
nel, and islands beyond, with thoughts of that Old Man of the 
Sea, the "Senator ;" who years long gone reversed the charac- 
ters by bearing me on his back, took me to the time when we 
halted here on our up-coast journey, when my prospects 
looked as blue as the Italian sea and sky around me ; that 
" Senator" which swam the seas during the height of the gold 
excitement, popular and prosperous ; now stripped of engines 
and a plebian collier ; a Senator without his toga, as it were 
and a blouse-clad, sans-cullotte, performing menial duty. Then 
up the main street. Mission-ward and on the home-stretch. 
The same delightful, quiet street, and the town Pelican, that 
loyal fowl, the national bird of Santa Barbara, waddling along 
the pavement waiting to have his pouch stretched for the 
amusement of strangers. I stopped at the stage-office to get 
'*booked," English, you know ! for the overland road up the 
coast ; a stage ride of seventy-five miles. It is the thing to sit 
with the driver, so I engaged the seat beside him. Then to 
my friend's home; a pleasant evening with his family; an 
early awakening in the morning ; a farewell to my kind enter- 
tainers and I was off through the foggy air. 

The coach was a Concord, drawn by four bay horses and 
driven by "Dave" somebody, a typical "Hank Monk," wearing 
last year's straw hat cocked over his left eye; a gray 



CALIFORNIA REVISITED. 227 

moustache and a stubby beard. Chary of words was Dave and 
seemingly so occupied with his team as to discourage conver- 
sation. I was promised a seat with him, fairly and squarely; 
but I found promises in matters of this kind, when there is a 
"drummer" booked, don't count. There is a flavor about the 
stories and cigars of a modem knight of the road that the 
average Jehu cannot resist ; so I was put on the top seat along 
with a pair of cronies; getting a show for fresh air, hot sun 
and a chance for a fractured skull when a low limb thwarted 
the road. There were five inside passengers, and thus ar- 
ranged away we went, through the Santa Barbara suburbs and 
up the valley, once the range for thousands of cattle and 
horses, in the prosperous Mission days. Orchards of all kinds, 
adapted to this locality covered the plain. The white walls of 
the Mission were in view for some time and its Angelus and 
early mass-bells seemed ringing in my ears as I heard them in 
the morning and evening. 

There are two routes up the coast ; one favored by the 
Southern Pacific, as we were going ; the other across the Santa 
Ynez range. And here let me caution the tourist that to be 
en rapport with the people he must pronounce the name 
Santinaze, accent on last syllable. Similarly he must call Las 
Olivos, Loce Aleeifose, stress on the second syllable. And Car- 
penteria should have the i pronounced ee, and it accented. 
Thus fortified he will be less likely to be called a tender-foot. 
The road up these hills is steep ; but in forty miles you come 
to the terminus of a narrow-guage railroad, at Las Olivos, 
which takes you to San Luis Obispo, fifty miles above the 
terminus of the finished coast-line. But the S. P. does not 
favor this road, and that suffices; as our tickets were from 
that company. Over this range came Colonel Fremont with 
his battallion in 1846, and on the slopes of the Santa Ynez 
perished one hundred of his draught animals in the winter 
floods. 

The road was good, having been sprinkled in the night. 



228 UP THE CALIFORNIA COAST. 

We soon came to the Hollister Ranch, which for miles flanks 
the high-way, and reaches from mountain to sea. The owner's 
home is hidden with tropical trees and shrubbery. The ranch 
is a mixed one; grazing and fruit; the last almond, walnut 
and olive. There are avenues lined with palms ; some of them 
date-bearing. After the Hollister comes the "Elwood/' the 
name of the Cooper Ranch, the largest walnut and olive farm 
in the state. It also runs from mountain to sea and for a mile 
along the road. There are hundreds of acres of walnuts and 
olives, and extensive works for expressing the oil, which is 
sent to France, mixed with cotton-seed oil and returned to this 
country, xxx pure. These ranch-owners are apparently roll- 
ing in wealth. 

Flanked by mountain and sea we cantered and trotted 
along over the dust-laid road. Towas of any extent are 
watered night and day, and this system is extended to the 
country roads — unless the people are too poor. The supply 
first comes from corporation works ; then from artesian wells, 
with wind pumps, sometimes from wells to which are attached 
horse-powers, which are turned by teams unhitched from the 
sprinklers. This comes high, but the people think they must 
have it, and I know we enjoyed the freedom from dust, while 
the luxury lasted. I saw several large fields of pampas-grass 
along the way; but that crop, like many others, is over-pro- 
duced and the farmers were grubbing up fields of this plant at 
great loss. English walnuts are the "drive'* now. The or- 
chards are many; the trees in sections lining the road and the 
crop heavy. I saw limbs breaking under the weight of nuts. 
Silver poplar and Australian Gum are common road-side trees. 
Along the Cooper ranch the last lined the road for a mile. 
These trees were planted two feet apart, were six inches in 
diameter and sixty feet high. These were nine yea'^s old, and 
used for fuel when needed. Among the orchards were large 
patches of pumpkins ; the yellow spheres shining among the 
greenery of vines and suggestive of my favorite pie. 



CALIFORNIA REVISIT£D. 229 

At 1 o^clock we passed the town of Elwood. This had been 
the starting place of the stage ; but the railroad travel did not 
pay, the stage replaced the cars and a retrograde to first prin- 
ciples, in the direction of the pack-mule, was made ; so now 
the Concord coaches roll along side the rusting rails, and I 
could imagine a horse4augh from our quadruple quadrupeds 
at the change. 

My information came like tooth-drawing from David, who 
from his knack at reaching his leaders with pebbles was prop« 
erly named from the slayer of Goliah. Naturally taciturn, he 
devoted his limited conversational powers to his comrade, the 
drummer; as if saying to the fare> perched aloft behind him, 
*'You are no regular; you have no cigars; so ask no questions 
and I'll tell you no lies.** I however got his smoke; he could 
not deprive me of that. David, as I said, had an unshaven 
beard ; besides this neglect his shoes were unblacked and one 
was cut open to relieve a mashed foot ; as over roads like ours 
accidents will happen to the best regulated coachman. His 
trouble was last spring when he was upset crossing the Santa 
Ynez river. Of course the Sphinx-like Dave did not tell me 
this ; it came from a subsequent driver, who I think had art 
envious mind. This son of Nimshi also knew Hank Monk ; 
the drivers all knew Hank, or said they did to accommodate 
enquiring green-horns. He said **it was luck ailed Hank; he 
was no slouch of a driver, to be sure, but luck it was got him 
along. Just the same with Dave; but I've nuthin agin Dave; 
but a man wants suthin besides luck. Did he tell you about 
his upsot on the Santinaze ? Reckon not ! I was with him ; 
told him jist where the rock was ; but Dave jist natterally 
went on ; trusted to his luck, you see. Wall he trusted to it 
Once too often. Over he went ; bosses, stage and all. In 
gettin out one of his bosses got on top of Dave, and that's 
what ails his foot. The bosses was saved. What became of 
the passengers? Oh they was only two of 'em, and they 



230 UP THE CALIFORNIA COAST. 

scrabbled from under. They always float, like corks." I 
won't say what adjectives were put before '*luck" but trust the 
Recording Angel's tears will efface them when the time comes. 
Sad the day when these entertaining Sam Wellers go the way 
of other extinct curiosities. 

Dave had staged thirty-eight years and had soured on curi- 
ous passengers; answering them in monosyllables generally; 
his yes, sounding like "Yarp;** his no "Nope ;" so his yea was 
not yea, nor his nay, nay, though perhaps a truthful man. He 
was all right with the drummer, however ; who had traveled 
up and down the coast so often he need ask but few questions. 
He was a careful driver; albeit, and could flick a fly from a 
leader's ear, if occasion demanded. To manage a four or six- 
horse team on the sharp curves at gulch crossings, when you 
went down one side, turned short and came back the other, 
required a steady hand, and a foot ever ready for the lever. 
To give the coach a start up the opposite bank the brake, 
often a **dead" one, must come off before the bottom is reach- 
ed ; when away go the horses on a trot or gallop ; soon to 
come down to a hard slow pull. But David was equal to such 
crisis. He had crossed the Plains ; knew what a road agent 
was, and was a good, all-round-square driver; but I could 
have wished him more free with his tongue. His coach had 
crossekl the plains, also, to and fro. It weighed a ton ; had 
been thirty years in use and cost $1500. There were twenty 
layers of leather stretched from front to rear bolster ; the best 
spring for such roads, as steel would certainly break with the 
jolts we were subjected to, and made the ride bearable. The 
best coaches came from Concord, N. H., and are therefore 
rightly named. 

The stage line was one of many owned by a man named 
Wines. He had 150 horses and 20 coaches. He pays $10 
apiece for his animals and does his own breaking ; or rather 
his drivers do it for him. A pair in the **swing ' of a six-horse 



CALIFORNTA REVISITED. 23 1 

team would be conquered in a day's drive. I need not note 
the snub-ful reluctance of Dave's information ! 

We at last got out of reach of the sprinkler, and for awhile 
were in clouds of dust ; but much of the way was adobe, as 
hard and smooth as asphalt. We saw many ground squirrels; 
growing more numerous as we advanced ; until they were al- 
ways in sight, scurrying right and left for their holes. They 
were brown in color, often with white shoulder-capes. These 
and gophers are the pests of the farmers. The tough adobe> 
even, is perforated with their holes. Jack-rabbits are not bad 
here, but over the range, about Fresno they are such a pest 
that they are impounded and killed by thousands. 

Beyond Elwood we climbed a steep hill where last year an 
insecure brake caused the death of a driver, and the injury of 
two men and the death of three horses ; encouraging informa. 
tion for us. A large sign marked "Naples," around which 
were laid out streets, but there were no houses to show the 
town we should "see and die." Large beds of asphaltum lie 
at the foot of the mountains and this shall be the sea-port for 
its shipment — when the good times come. At Naples proper, 
a sun-burned town of a few houses we changed our mail and 
horses — a brown, dun, bay and gray for our "solid" team. We 
were now coming among that pest of grazing lands, the Tar- 
plant, and the noses of the cattle were brown and sticky with 
its exudations. There are still left stretches of chapparal 
hedge in vogue before the era of wire fence ; a ragged, un- 
sightly enclosure. We soon came to the edge of the sea; 
which made our ride more interesting. A broad, purple mar- 
gin near shore showed a bed of sea-weed or kelp. This is so 
dense it breaks the surf and makes it difHcult for boats and 
even larger vessels to land, as recorded in the journals of early 
voyagers. A tall crane, standing on the edge of the water in 
one-legged meditation attracted our notice. We passed a 
bunch of 260 cattle in charge of mounted herders, then a 



232 UP THE CALIFORNIA COAST. 

small flock of sheep and goats; some of the last as big as 
donkeys ; and afterwards a large drove of sheep, changing 
pasture. There were 2500 of these and they for a while 
blocked the road. Then the herdsman went among them 
uttering unearthly cries and alternately slapping his thighs, 
and, presto! the waves of wool parted and let our human 
Sphinx and his precious freight through. An intelligent dog 
rendered much assistance to the herdsman. The sheep were 
brown with dust and looked distressed from thirst. At Arroyo 
Honda wc again changed horses ; four grays replacing the 
mixed team. Here the mountain crowds the plain to the sea 
and trouble begins for the proposed shore-line railroad ; for 
there are but two routes, along the beach or across an almost 
impassable range. We were sorry to loose sight of the sea, 
but fate, with topography, pointed across the mountains. It 
also caused us to lose Dave; his unwilling tongue, dilapidated 
hat, and tell-tale shoe ; the last ever gaping at me on my perch 
above. I did not care much for his loss for he was getting so 
he would hardly answer a question, save from the drummer. 

Wc got dinner at Arroyo Honda, a hill-locked, hot place, 
with dust arising at the slightest pretext and settling on every 
thing. The weather was hard on butter, or rather soft on it ; 
but it need not have affected the coffee and meat. We were 
glad to get away. Parting with Dave brought a new driver. 
He was a grass widower, by unconscious admission. His wife 
had gone off with a more or less handsome man, to be lost in 
the vortex of gay San Franciscan life; but he was optimistic, 
and said, as he happily put it, "there were as nice pebbles on 
the beach as were ever picked." This made fun for the cynical 
drummer who was not one to see sermons in pebbles or good 
in anything, and he more than guyed the new whip ; illy re- 
paying his marital confidence. This was much enjoyed by my 
fellows on the high seat whose sympathies ran with the road 
knight and who enjoyed his yarns in proportion to their sea- 



CALIFORNIA REVISITED. 233 

soning. VVe had now left orchards and cultivated lands behind 
us, and were in a grazing country; a type of that of old seen 
around the Spanish Missions ; abounding in flocks and herds. 

The soil was so parched and seamed by the sun that it was a 
wonder how the sheep avoided broken legs. We were now 
nearing Gaviote Pass, a long, deep and winding canyon, and 
the only means of reaching the upper coast. There were high, 
over-hanging rocks, dusty roads and gulches many ; horse-shoe 
curves and crossings steep, which our young, marital-troubled - 
driver took us through and over safely. The Pass was ten- 
miles long. At the Mexican village of Santa Cruz our tired, 
dust-brown grays slaked their thirst at a rustic fountain. Santa 
Cruz was typical of the herdsmen villages of the far past ; low 
houses, dark-featured men and women ; and horse equipments 
and ranch paraphernalia hanging or lying around. We were in 
the heart of the Santa Ynez mountains, a grazing, sparsely set- 
tled region ; the land-marks with Spanish nomenclature, which 
again took one back to the days of the Missions. We were in 
the land of ranches, canadas and canons ; arroyes, rios and 
Sierras and we saw types of the original people, some in quaint 
attire ; but not a school-house or church. We got out of the 
Gaviote Pass at last, and came to the Rancho San Julian, owned 
by Dibble Brothers. Through canyons and over "grades" we 
followed the ranch for sixteen miles ; a holding so large that 
the county road passes through it only on sufferance ; to such 
condition has it come at last. No wonder the people remon- 
strate, when the carrier of the United States mail has to get out 
and open gates at each end of an obstructing ranch, as large as 
some counties. The road was an expensive one to build on ac- 
count of side-cuts and bridges and was made by the ranch- 
owners. Vehicles pass through free; but not sheep or cattle. 
On the Rancho San Julian are lOOO horses, 10,000 cattle and 
15,000 sheep; figures remindful of the old Missions; but of 
romance there was none. Saying nothing of the swings and 



234 UP THE CALrFORNIA COAST. 

lurches of the coach the road was dangerous for the high-seat 
riders from the gnarled limbs reaching out from Sycamore and 
live-oak, and threatening skull-fracture; so we became artful 
dodgers to the amusement of the drummer below whose warn- 
ing cries of "low bridge" we tried to think funny. This gentle- 
man was entertainer for the crowd — outside his present victim- 
His attention was divided between the wife-bereft driver, two 
ladies inside and the out-reaching limbs, from which he was 
safe. Between talking to the insides, in a familiar, know it all 
way, narrating experiences on the road to his near companions 
and guying Dave's successor he seemed to enjoy himself Un- 
derneath all he showed keen, business tact and was successful 
in his calling. One of my high-seat companions was of the 
"Smart Aleck" variety. The note-book I frequently brought in 
use much amused him, and he would cutely call my attention 
to scraps in the conversation and outre points along the road- 
side as good selling reading in the book I must be getting ui>. 
He said he did not need to take notes, and significantly, if not 
comparatively, tapped his forehead, and remarked that "what 
got there staid." 

Animal life in this strange region, of the wild kind, was 
limited to squirrels and gophers; the first always in sight hur- 
rying for their burrows at our approach, the last only seen at 
rise or set of sun. Buzzards were plenty ; sitting on the ground 
or circling and soaring high on the look-out for dead cattle or 
sheep. 

We climbed a hill so steep that we frequently had to rest our 
horses and in three miles wound to the top, and finally reached 
a lonely place called Summit, remarkable otherwise for having 
an English name. Here we again changed teams ; this time to 
all-around bays. Here we saw an old time Mexican of the cen- 
tury-ago type ; handkerchief about his brown forehead, with 
sugar-loaf hat thereon, and "serape," or holed-blanket, thrown 
across his shoulders ; a picturesque sight. We now saw cattle 



CALIFORNIA REVISITED. 23$ 

and sheep in plenty dotting the uplands and valleys. We came 
to a stream called the "Sals Puedes" — literally "get out if you 
can." It is a dangerous ford in winter. More dodging of the 
gnarled limbs which reached out like the tentacles of the devil- 
fish for destruction of life, and which suggested our being con- 
verted into quiet "insides," and more "dinner-settling" joltings 
of the Concord, and we were on the farther slopes of the moun- 
tain. Through another gate and we were inside the Sals Puedes 
Rancho of 7000 acres. Again among flocks and herds ; some 
of the "vaqueros" having the tall, conical hats, jackets and 
horse accoutrements to match this class. More permeations of 
rugged canyons, crossings of narrow bridges and avoidance of 
threatening limbs, going at a sharp trot, and our road led us 
over a high hill. From here we had a smooth down grade and 
were now leaving a country full of suggestions of the misty 
past in its flocks, herds and vaqueros, and, cantering and trot- 
ting, were soon among cultivated fields and civilized life on the 
level plains of Lompoc. The town of the same name was 
reached before sun-down and here we abode for the night. 

Hearing there was a Mission ruin near here I walked to 
where it lay, a mile away, at the foot of a range of hills skirting 
the sea. I felt I must see the remnants of all such establish- 
ments within reach of my route and I could not miss this, the 
most dilapidated of all. It was once known as the Lompoc 
Mission and its ruins cover fifteen acres. A part of the church 
is standing ; isolated walls and mounds mark the rest. After 
1790 one of the "Temblores," or earthquakes which threw down 
or injured several of the Mission buildings along the coast 
caused the destruction of Old Lompoc. Its name was of a 
tribe of Indians, the only Mission thus sponsored. It had been 
prosperous, as the valley is rich. Water was brought from 
twelve miles among the mountains in a cemented "accequia," 
which irrigated the crops and orchards and supplied the foun- 
tain, the remains of which fronts the ruins. This was a neces- 



236 UP THE CALIFORNIA CXJAST. 

sary adjunct to all the Mission buildings and was a daily center 
of attraction ; for here the villagers got their supplies of water 
and the home-cattle quenched their thirst. The cement used 
in the construction of this fountain was solid as ever. The 
open ditches to carry the water from the mountains were of 
concrete also. To thus bring it required some engineering 
skill. After the temblor the padres sought another location for 
the Mission. This was some four miles away, on .the Santa 
Ynez, and was called La Purissima, "The Purest." A second 
earthquake destroyed the new buildings in 181 2, together with 
the convert's houses, and in 18 17 the Mission was established 
on a new site, whose ruins .still rise above the plain ; but not in 
the sad dilapidation of the original ones at Lompoc, where 
swine root around in the remnants of the neophytes houses and 
cattle bawl in the chapel. Twilight came on me as I wandered 
from ruin to ruin, where once was life and prosperity until the 
merciless earthquake heaved down the walls, and thinking it no 
fit place for a lone traveler I left and crossed the fields to 
Lompoc. 

The new town is a California rarity, or rather was, as the 
business element has so far undone the work of the original in- 
corporators as to have a new election ordered by the Legisla- 
ture. It had been a Temperance town, and was so incorporated 
in 1874. A strong moral element prevailed, kept up by several 
religious organizations ; but now the "wets" hope to quench 
their thirst on something stronger than tea. Awaiting the elec- 
tion two saloons have started but the hotels have no bars at- 
tached. My informant, a business man, said the women and 
church-folks generally mixed up too much in politics in 
Lompoc. There are eight churches here, a good showing for a 
town of 1200 ; that is, if the congregations are of any size; but 
there are so many "new lights" in California, and so many 
divisions of these. Between the Seventh-day Second Adven- 
tists and the old style ; the Methodists North and South ; two 



I 



CALIFORNIA REVISITED. 237 

branches of the Spiritualists and other church divisions there 
must be slim audiences. The split of the Methodists in a 
Northern State borders on the ridiculous, as there are Republi- 
cans in the South branch and Democrats in the North ! 

There are good hotels in Lompoc; Temperance Houses because 
the license fees are too high, and not from principle. I had made 
a street car conductor's day of it, as it was midnight before I got 
through, and after jolting since early morning in the stage, 
looking about the old Mission ruins afterwards and writing up 
my notes I felt that tired feeling to the utmost and that a hod- 
carriers lot was not so unhappy. I was up by four o'clock the 
next morning to go to Surf, nine miles away. There is no 
railroad here so we went by stage. Although our Concord 
weighed 1500 pounds our two grays took us through in an 
hour ; but then the road was level and in fine order. It was 
surfaced with gravel and kept sprinkled with water from artesian 
wells one mile apart. Througjh the chill of early morning and 
a (oggy air we whirled by field after field of beans, mustard and 
alfalfa and an occasional pumpkin patch. I won't trust my 
memory as to how many tons of those yellow spheres they got 
from an acre but the total was immense. The mustard is 
threshed by horses treading it out in the old Scriptural way, 
though on broad strips of canvas. A heavy roller is passed 
over the straw first ; then, four abreast, the horses go their 
weary rounds. Ordinary threshing machines will not work at 
all ; the straw being so coarse and seed so fine. This year, 
however, a combined header was used with good effect. The 
trouble is with the shattered grains. 

This section, like Ventura county, is great for beans. The 
yield is 1 500 to 2000 pounds per acre ; the price two cents per 
pound ; mustard 800 to 1000 and worth three and a half cents. 
Hay was very low, even down to $2.50 per ton. On account of 
lack of rain the following winter this price raised to $12 per 
ton in Southern California; while at San Francisco it went to 



338 UP THE CALIPORNIA COAST. 

f 20. Last summer was noted for large yields and low prices in 
the South. Barley around Lompoc gave 1 20 bushels per acre. 
This is a great apple country ; the fruit having an Eastern 
flavor. 

Surf is at the northern end of the break in the coast railroad. 
When this will be filled is a question ; the difficulties along the 
sea being so great The road is but little traveled. After 
Oceana station was passed there were but two passengers in 
the day coach. The country was uninteresting and the weather 
foggy. At 7.30 we reached my next halting place, San Luis 
Obispo. I stopped here one day and night ; mainly to see the 
Mission. It is one of the few put in good repair, although the 
inner decorations are tawdry. Italians have replaced the de- 
clension of the Mexican population ; so the church has quite a 
congregation. I give a view of the restored Mission, in con- 
junction with the roofless corridors of San Juan; one of the 
grandest ruins of California, from its extent and evidences of 
artistic design and skilled workmanship. 

The priest was pacing the paved front to and fro. I asked 
for a sight of the Mission relics. '*Stolen, all stolen along with 
the land/' he said. "By the Mexicans during their rule ?" "No, 
by somebody since then." Others besides the Senora Morena, 
in Ramona, have an unfriendly feeling towards the American 
spoilers, who took what the "Commissionados," deputized by 
the Mexican government to secularize the Missions left. He 
told me when in the boom time they ran a new street through 
their grounds the bones of hundreds of the faithful were dug up 
to make way for the improvement. In part of the old building 
the Catholic young men hold social meetings. 

The Mission was established in 1772, near the Canada de 
los Osos — Bear Glen — so named from the number of bears 
killed the year before to satisfy the starving colonists at San 
Carlos; a band of soldiers having been sent here for that pur- 




gAN I.UIS ODISFO 



CALIFORNIA REVISITEB. 239 

pose. Not knowing the motive and rejoicing in the riddance 
of their Ursine enemies the Indians took kindly to the Missioa 
founders, and the friars, under the leadership of Junipera Serra, 
had their hearts made gttd by their success in saving the red 
heathen's soul. San Luis was the fifth Mission on the coast 
By the year 1800 the conversions numbered 700; this was in- 
creased to 840 by 1 8 14; but in 1835 there remained but 35a 
In the height of its prosperity San Luis had 100,000 cattle 
and horses and 9000 sheep. After the downfall of the Missions 
in the year last named the cattle were killed for their hides and 
tallow, and the horses ran off or were stolen by the gentile 
Indians, white the converts, gathered and civilised wjth so much 
care, for a period of sixty years, died off or sought their native 
wilds to such an extent that few were left and the Mission of 
San Luis Obispo de Toleso and its work was of the past. 
Times were dull, pathetically dull in San Luis. They were 
good before the coming of the railroad down the coast ; but 
when the **S. P." ran the back road southward, 50 to lOO miles 
inland, the old town's fate was sealed. It's port, Harford, was 
the only one for miles and there being no place for a town 
there, so abrupt is the coast line, San Luis was an entrepot for 
fifty miles around. Here the big "trailers" came in loaded with 
grain and wool, and returned with store goods and lumber. 
People, now idle, tell with regret about the good old times. 
With eight or ten mules they would haul twelve tons of freight. 
The big wagons are rotting or broken up ; the mules sold ; the 
teamsters at other work, or idle. "Lead-eyed dulness*' shadows 
the town. The only steam I saw rising from San Luis came 
from a pump filling a railroad tank. There had been a flour 
mill ; it did not pay, and is now an Electric-light plant; so the 
farmers ship their wheat and buy their flour. The hotel where 
I staid was in size 175 by 75 feet, and could accommodate a 
hundred guests. The landlord was obliging, but the names on 
the register numbered but three. The fashionable resort, the 



240 UP THE CALIFORNIA COAST. 

**Ramona;" a hotel 250 by 150 feet, seemed poorly patronized. 
The boom was on ; it was off. It is not the people ; it must be 
Luck, as the California miner hath it. They talk the town up ; 
they write it up ; they loyally exaggerate. They claim 6000 
population ; there is hardly half that. If the "trailer" times 
could return the citizens would forego railroads, street cars and 
electric-lights. Let us hope for better days for San Luis Obispo 
without eliminating these. 

My hotel had been built up from some old Mis.sion building; 
a part showing walls six feet thick. The town has its Spanish 
quarter, and here I was pleased to wander to wile away the 
lagging hours, for trains here are like the visit of angels. The 
low adobes with their shrubbery and palms and dark eyed, 
swarthy descendants of the original people had an attraction I 
could not resist. And there are picturesque mountains and 
peaks around the town. San Luis Peak and Bishop's Mitre, 
rising abruptly, a thousand feet perhaps, from the western out- 
skirts, are elevations which strike the sight. An hour in the 
quiet library; a talk with old citizens about the happy past and 
dull present; a stroll around the city in vain search of matters 
of interest and I was ready to leave San Luis Obispo. 

In the morning I pursued my way up the coast. Who 
should I see the first thing on the car but my trio of companion- 
outsiders of the Santa Barbara coach ? They were deep in a 
card-game and oblivious to surroundings. At Santa Margarita 
station we saw a picturesque tiled building going to ruin. It 
had belonged to the Rancheria of the same name ; an outlying 
tract of the San Luis Mission, and once had its proportion of 
life in Indians, flocks and herds. Like other crumbling ruins 
along the coast it had the effect on the imagination of a skeleton 
•'revisiting the glimpses of the moon." The roof-tree sagged ; 
the columns leaned and the tiles were dropping one by one, 
and soon this last vestige of the Rancheria Santa Margarita will 
sprawl athwart the plain. Then relic-hunters will buy up the 



CALIFORNIA REVISITED. 24 1 

tiles for buildings imitative of the Mission style of architecture, 
the adobes go to fill wash-outs and the hide-bound timbers for 
fuel. Sic transit/ 

Farther on, 208 miles south of San Francisco, are the Mission 
buildings of San Miguel. They were quite extensive and also 
going to ruin, and suggestive of mournful thoughts; with their 
scarred columns, cracked arches and sunken roof, and the 
dropped tiles, corded up as if for sale to the new made rich of 
that country. A large bell swung on posts near the church — a 
bell which had called the faithful together for scores of years as 
a matter of pious obligation ; now hung up as a relic of the past 
to attract the curious. The iconoclastic steam train tears 
through the plaza where the adobes of the converts stood and 
the fountain played, and, for all it cared, through the place of 
dead neophytes bones. This church was finished in 1820 and 
it was a hospitable stopping place for north or south bound 
travelers. In 1814 there were about iioo converts. The Mis- 
sion was rich in stock. The records state in 1821 there were 
91,000 cattle, 4000 horses, 2000 mules, 47,000 sheep and 170 
yokes of oxen. In the next year the census showed 600 In- 
dians, which number, contrary to the experience of other Mis- 
sions had increased to 800 in 1835. I give these figures to im- 
press the reader with the work of the Spanish Padres in re- 
claiming the savages from barbarism and enriching the coun- 
try. I saw ten of the twenty-one Missions in my travels, visit- 
ing eight of them, and two seperate churches. It may seem a 
false sentiment that devotes such time and space to these pass- 
ing landmarks of California, but I am in good company. Poet 
novelist and historian have dwelt on these Missions until they 
are a part of our national literature. I have seen them from 
San Gabriel to Solano; from Santa Barbara, well preserved, and 
even making additions, to Lompoc in its roofless ruin. The 
reader will perhaps feel relieved to know I am done writing 
about the California Missions but whoever ignores these evi- 



7^2 Xjr THE CAUrOKfnA COAST. 

dences of the past of the state misses much. A system which 
extended its operations along the coast for 600 miles in twenty- 
one establishments, rescued 30,000 people from savagery^ 
changing them from gentile destias, or beasts, as they were 
called in the language of the time, to passable Christians ; mak- 
ing them self-supportii^ members of society ; farmers, herders* 
artisans; even carvers, sculptors and painters; erecting build- 
ings which, though mainly in ruins, are marvels, considering 
the antecedents of the builders, and planting orchards and 
vineyards that yielded richly and beautified the landscape, be- 
sides stocking the land with hundreds of thousands of cattle,, 
horses and sheep, which before had known no domestic ani- 
mals, is certainly worthy of extended notice. And what became 
of the work of these Missionaries ? The lustful rifTraif from the 
Presidios demoralized the converts and the instigations of the 
land-hungry caused the home government of Mexico to give 
away or sell the Mission holdings ; and to day we see but the 
ghost of what was once an active body. That this thing had 
to be to make easy the march of civilization we, as patriotic 
citizens, must admit, but it might have been accomplished more 
honorably. 

We soon passed through a forlorn looking place called 
Salinas; a small town but with eight saloons. These looked 
necessary adjuncts for drowning in stupefaction the sorrows of 
the surrounding people ; the country seemed so poverty 
stricken. But since then Claus Spreckel has waved his wand 
over the valley and good fortune has come to Salinas. A large 
sugar plant will start here. Contracts have been made with 
farmers to take their beets at fair prices and happiness succeeds 
discontent, for their leagues of sand were bringing them noth- 
ing. Irrigation is to make the change. A water system is now 
under way which will supply the tract abundantly, and all this 
came from experts finding that this region was adapted to pro- 
ducing sugar to an exceptional degree. 



CALIFORNIA REVISITED. 243 

At Gilroy I stopped to see a soldier friend. My acquaint- 
ance with him originated years ago, when I learned he was a 
sort of an esquire for that doughty old Knight, John Burns of 
Gettysburg, whose history I was writing up. The Sergeant 
was a blacksmith, but much of his time was devoted to his 
orchard of ten-acres, where his home is, two miles out of town. 
His trade has enabled him to beat his sword to a pruning hook, 
to be used when needed among his trees of apple, peach, apri< 
cot, cherry and almond. Long before he bought the tract his 
wife had expressed a wish to own it, and one day he surprised 
her by saying he had bought it. The first need at such times 
is a well, wind-mill and tank ; and these they have. Without 
irrigation orcharding would be a poor business. Iron pipes 
carry the water among the trees and the furrows around them 
do the rest. Pending the time the house comes the family are 
living in a plain building which will then be the barn. With a 
war experience any soldier might be proud of, and which he 
modestly tells when requested, the Sergeant awaits the time 
patiently when fortune will favor him as he deserves it. I found 
his family, in three generations, picking, cutting and drying 
apricots. The ranch was along the dry bed of the Carnadero 
river. Water is nicer than sand for scenery, but for fruit-drying 
the last is better. The apricots were picked and in boxes slid 
down a long schute from the high bank to the cutters and dry- 
ers below. These halved, stoned and spread them on wooden 
trays five by six feet. When full these were placed on a little 
car, one above another, to the height of five feet, and then run 
into a canvas chamber for bleaching. Then the doors were 
closed, the sulphur fired, and by morning the fruit was of the 
desired whiteness. Next the frames were spread over the hot 
sand, and under a scorching sun, in two or three days the apri- 
cots were ready for shipment. 

Dinner at my friend'^s home after our stroll around his little 
farm ; an exemplification of "ten acres enough/* as far as con- 



244 ^P "^HE CALIFORNIA COAST. 

tentment was concerned ; then a social hour wherein were told 
events worthy of record ; then a drive around the country 
among orchards and beside large harvest fields where "headers" 
were doing their work of decapitation, and I resumed my home- 
ward journey. On our way we passed another settlement of 
Spiritualists, called Edenville — the last was Summerland. A 
wealthy woman is at the head of affairs at Edenville — a medium - 
I trust a happy one. We were now in the Santa Clara valley. 
The odor of Tar-weed pervaded its pastures ; its yellow flower 
poorly off-setting its unpleasantness. Nearing San Francisco I 
passed two types of water elevation, and side by side ; a wind 
wheel and old fashioned well sweep. We were now in the 
truck section, and hundreds of wind-engines were fanning the 
air, raising water for the Chinese to irrigate their gardens. 
Although but four o'clock the fog was creeping through the 
Golden Gate, and shrouding the near-by hills; there was sun- 
shine around us however. More truck-patches and wind-mills, 
and then cemetery after cemetery for Christian, Jew and Gen- 
tile; their remains partitioned off as many think their souls will 
be hereafter, and I was again in San Francisco ; glad to see it 
again, but with the old feeling about one when entering a 
strange city alone. 



>4fe< 



Galifernia Revisited. 



XII. 

j^gain j^Found San Jfran^if^o. 

From mountain jaunts — 

Ky sea and plain 
Ti) the City's haunts 

I come ag^ain. 
Whose veins with Klondike fever throb 
From water-line to Hill called Nob! 
Her thronjjinjj marts with tumult rife — 
Her Park-lands scenes of quiet life. 
Oh ! City, risinj; hill on hill 

I knew thee in thy early days— 

I see thee now with mind amaze, 
With here a jjood and there an ill, 

^,HKN I got to my lodgings I found all my com- 
panions gone. Sickness and business engagements 
had caused an unexpected hegira during my ab- 
sence. I confess to a lonely **left-over" feeling ; a feeling which 
haunted me that night; intensified by comparison with the 
companionship hitherto prevading my temporary home ; where 
our evenings had been times of mutual reminiscences or narra- 
tions of individual experience in travels around the city. It 

(245) 




{ 



246 AGAIN AROUND SAN FRANCISCO. 

was a reminder of my loneliness of long ago ; but the reading 
of accumulated letters from my far home, and the inevitable 
"writing up" drove off my waking night-mare at last, and by 
morning I was ready for the sight-seeing which my limited 
time drove me to hurriedly finish. About the wharves, the 
squares, China-town, on Nob Hill and across the Bay "I might 
have been seen," in the language of the late G. P. R. James, 
from morn till night, and into the night 

A view by lamp-light of the extremes of San Francisco life 
was one of my last experiences in the Queen of the Pacific as 
Californians love to call their chief city. Climbing Nob Hill 
has an Alpine suggestion about it. I had wondered how 
loaded wagons and fire engines in their emergencies mounted 
some of the built-up elevations about the city, but found it was 
by indirect, easier grades, and then descending the steeps. My 
guide, who was a friend as well as a philosopher, took me to 
the heights where what is known as the Quality, with a big Q, 
live — when they are at home. They were once the culmination 
of sand hills, bleak and wind-swept. I recollect the pavements 
in the built-up approaches were made more accessible by steps 
at intervals. The view from Nob Hill over the city, spreading 
far below and brightly lighted, was impressive ; but the homes 
of the millionaires were more so. A series of fine residences 
were around — homes, I would like to call them — costing their 
hundreds of thousands, each ; and few but had grinning 
skeletons in their closets. These rich people, and, as Dickens 
said, their greatest enemies could not deny they were rich, are 
human in their ways. They are tempted a|;id tempt ; sin and 
are sinned against ; and for their opportunities worse than the 
people around Chinatown. About us were the palaces of finan- 
cial kings ; grown rich in railroading, manufacturing and specu- 
lation. Some were empty ; some occupied by servants ; others 
might have had a portion of their belonging families inside 
their portals. In the empty house how lonely must have been 



CALIFORNIA REVISITED. 247 

the skeleton? In the inhabited neighbor it might have a 
ghastly, boney enjoyment of the family troubles. Death, 
prodigal sons, divorced daughters, faithless wives ; well the 
rich have troubles of their pwn, like the common herd. One 
had a wife so plebian that the rest of his corporate associates 
would not notice her; another's wife had been a laundress. It 
is related that when she and her daughter came to look at the 
finished house she said, on seeing no back yard, "It's very foine 
Norah, but where be the grounds for the clothes line ?'* The 
old folks are now dead and past worrying about non-paying 
mines and the weekly wash. Nora is married and gone East. 
It is the worry of the loyal Californian that so many whom his 
state make rich waste their substance abroad. The palace suc- 
ceeding the laundry was dark and empty. The house of an- 
other Nob-nabob, a grasping millionaire; but dead; as even 
the rich must die, was also silent, as was that of his son, who 
had just followed him to where stations are reversed and 
Lazarus can mock Dives. A daughter married and living East 
comes filially annually and airs the house. I said married ; so 
she was when I wrote that ; she is divorced now. These 
monied kings, at the height of their worldly fame die ; when 
married and apparently living happily they are in the divorce 
courts. Another Nob Hill man succumbed to fate. He left a 
widow amply endowed and a palace. A decorator, while re- 
furnishing her home, fell in love with her, or her endowment, 
and, though in ages as mother to son, they married, and, they 
say, lived happily. It was a sort of marriage on the endow- 
ment plan, for she accommodatingly died, leaving much to her 
youthful spouse. Of course litigation from the heirs ; but com- 
promise followed and the "unearned increment" produced 
serenity. Then there was the Ralston tragedy. Socially and 
financially that rich man had reached the apex of success. 
His home was the resort of people on their travels, and his 
literary guests who partook of his fare wrote him up. And 



248 AGAIN AROUND SAN FRANCISCO. 

the ending ? A bloated, suicidal body ; of the class described 
by Mr. Mantalini, floating aimlessly about the Bay ! Oh, the 
poor rich ! But people will go on striving for gold for all this 
hackneyed moralizing. Leland Stanford was in one way an ex- 
ception to these unhappy people, for he lived for others be- 
sides himself. He was the good man of the Southern Pacific 
and the detractors of that corporation, which has such a cinch 
on California, halt at Stanford. His trouble came when his 
son died. Then he lost all interest in worldly affairs and 
thought only of perpetuating his name in an institution which 
would be a lasting benefit to the cause of education in his 
state, whence came the University at Palo Alto. His Nob 
Hill palace now has but a few servants for tenantry. As for 
the rest on this envied eminence, the originals, heirs or as- 
signs, further comments would be unprofitable. It won't keep 
mortals from assuming the risks connected with riches, yet as 
I looked from these gloomy heights on the city spread below ; 
so ablaze with artificial lights, and even at that late hour so 
full of sound and action and compared it with the gruesome 
residences about me the lack of real happiness connected with 
wealth and station came before me and I cannot help but give 
it expression. The less favored localities showed light and 
proofs of enjoyment; here on the isolated heights were the 
homes of the envied rich, but really a place of darkness, dis- 
content and absenteeism. 

The road to Nob Hill's summit was toilsome ; to our next 
destination, Chinatown, the way was as that to Hades ; dead 
easy ! Who visits San Francisco and views not this locality is 
as one who goes to see Hamlet and misses the Dane, and, on 
his home-coming, is voted a traveling failure. Its main feature 
can be seen in a mild form as groups of Christian Endeavorers 
saw it ; as the salacious viewed it in its most repulsive phases, 
or as by passers along the open street, where night and day 
are seen abominations, such as received the warning curses of 



CAUFORNIA REVISITED. 249 

Biblical Prophets! But warnings, at least those of the 
seismotic order, all fail here ; for earthquakes come and 
earthquakes go, but man's evil doings go on indefinitely. To 
see what is meant by Chinatown needs no slumming. From 
lax laws ; bad laws, or the non-enforcement of good laws Vice 
is abroad — not the Creature of hideous mien described by the 
poet ; but so inviting in appearance that Pity and Endurance 
need not precede the lapse to shame ! An American city is 
certainly an anomaly which allows social sin made a com- 
modity, and its female accessories displayed in apartments, in 
shameless reiteration, along the pavement ; labeled with pet 
names, and seated under the glare of electric lights : while 
policemen pace back and forth : not to repress these public 
outrages on decency, but to see that the hoodlum element at* 
iracted does not grow too disorderly. I dare not amplify de- 
scription of this San Franciscan sink of moral corruption ! 

The Chinese stores were remarkable for their varied dis* 
plays and mercantile indifference. The merchants do not seem 
to care whether they sell or not. It was nearing midnight 
when we got among them ; but they turn night to day in this 
city; particularly in Chinatown. The curious drugs in the 
stores for warding off diseases; consisting of jars of unguess- 
able things; looking like dried insects, pieces of snake-skins 
and animal viscera; as well as roots and herbs, and as if capa- 
ble of either killing or curing, called our attention. There 
were pigs and chickens ready roasted for the living, or the dead 

in their sandy beds near the Golden Gate, and dried abilone, 
dessicated duck-meat, flattened out like cod-fish ; sharks-fins, 
skewered shrimps and duck-eggs preserved in oil, and sugges- 
tive of loud odors. There were dried fruits and nuts unknown 
to us ; ginger and other conserves. Seeing all these things 
mentioned, and much more, we wended our way homeward ; 
my mind full of the marvels of our evening stroll ; not so my 
friend, who had lived too long here to wonder at anything. 

I visited the Chinese quarter again, by daylight. I noted 
the rich dresses of the wealthy, the comparative small number 



250 AGAIN AROUND SAN FRANCISCO. 

of women and children; the head-shaving barbers in the ceL 
lars; their "patients" looking about as comfortable in their 
rude chairs as convicts undergoing the garrote, and the coolies 
carrying their burdens around on springing poles, as our old 
school books pictured them ; though there was a notable ab- 
sence of rats and puppies on sale. An odd sight was a 
mandarin-looking fellow, with the typical stage hat, flowing, 
silken robe and long queue, leading an up-to-date, Little Lord 
Fauntelroy sort of a boy along a thronged thoroughfare, with 
nothing Chinese about him but his face. 

I took a walk along the wharves, so different from the old 
style landings, where we travel-worn ox-drivers stepped ashore 
on Christmas, day 1858, after crossing the plains. Here my 
comrade **Scottie" and I had wandered around hunting work, 
and here we debarked to cross the Bay to seek our fortunes. 
Many memories crowded on me as I looked over at the plains 
and mountains of Contra Costa where we began and continued 
our wanderings. A huge landing-house, where all travelers by 
sea and the continuous railroad lines North and South disem- 
bark, takes the place of the old Oakland Ferry. 

I give an illustration of the Plaza as I saw it in 1858; then 
the main city park. With neatly kept sward, tropical shrub- 
bery and plants and graveled walks, the excursionists of '97, 
who thus saw the square, will not recognize the picture. 
Grassless, roughly fenced, uncared for, it played its part in the 
early history of San Francisco, and was the scene of many a 
tumultuous gathering. While it is so beautified from its old 
time appearance its surroundings are of the worst, for it is in 
the limits of Chinatown, with all which that name implies 
The elevation shown in the distance is Telegraph Hill ; then 
isolated ; now built around until its steepness becomes such 
that steps are required in the pavement. 

The markets were a sight. The profuse display was to be 
remembered, as well as the cheapness of the fruits and vege- 



CALIFORNIA REVISITED, 2$ I 

tables. Boxes holding a bushel took the place of baskets in 
the East, for the solid fruits, while cherries, berries and the 
like were sold in flat baskets and boxes holding two or three 
quarts. The production seemed unlimited and the market 
restricted so there could be but the one result ; low prices. 
Nothing is sold for less than five cents at the retail stands; 
sixteen peaches or other fruits for a nickel, when a penny's 




THE OLD I'LAZA^ — NOW PORTSMOUTH SQUARE — TELEGRAPH 
HILL IN THE DISTANCE, 
worth would stay the temporary hunger, was the rule. Why 
sixteen I know not; it might have been the number seven, 
which fits to so many things, or its multiple; or a dozen, or a 
score but it was the figures named ; a "sixteen puzzle," truly. 
From itinerant vendor to merchant on the high street, for all 
the dull times and keenness to trade, it was considered mean 
to sell or try to buy an article for less than five cents. Some 



252 AGAIN AROUND SAN FRANCISCO. 

however, doing business on the ninety-nine cent plan, will give 
you a penny. Too loyal to the nickel creed to sell a paper 
below that standard price, and yet needy for sales, the news- 
boys will give you two papers for the price of one. In my 
early California days the dime was the unit ; the despised cent 
will yet be common. 

I will here name a disconnected fact. In the early days of 
California, as a state of our Union, the mail service was so in- 
efficient that private enterprise came to its aid. This was the 
Wells-Fargo Express, which had more stations than there were 
post offices ; consequently could reach more people. As is 
known the mail department tolerates no opposition ; being 
what's called a Monopoly; so Wells-Fargo bought stamped 
envelopes from the Government at three cents, and sold them 
at ten at the Express offices, thereby carrying mail-matter to 
scattered communities which otherwise would get it with dif- 
ficulty. 

THE KLONDIKE CRAZE IN SAN FRANCISCO. 

It so happened that my wide-apart visits to California were 
in periods of gold excitements; one at the collapse of the 
Frazer River bubble ; the other at the commencement of the 
Klondike fever ; a febrile complaint whose only remedy is 
that used by Keely for a different form of the disease — the 
Gold-cure. With the first event I was personally connected ; 
if having personalities cast on me has that meaning. When I 
first landed in San Francisco it was at a time when the disap- 
pointed gold hunters were returning by sea from Frazer River. 
Like my companions I was, from roughing it across the plains, 
sadly in need of repairs ; in fact we looked as if we had been 
run through a stamp mill with the process of washing the 
^'results'* omitted. Individually I was barefoot except as that 
condition was modified by a pair of moccasins as soleless as 
the Popular idea of a corporation, and as I walked up the 
wooden wharf at San Francisco a juvenile hoodlum bawled 
out **There goes a Frazer River feller who had to pawn his 



1^ 



CALIFORNIA REVISITED. 253 

boots." At my second visit the air was full of "Klondike." 
On the mining exchange ; the steamboat wharves ; at the 
ticket offices ; the stores for the sale of miners' supplies ; at 
the street comers; in bar-rooms; at the club, it was Klondike! 
Klondike! Some were preparing to go in groups, many in 
couples, or as "pards," in which latter case the disposition and 
temperments, not to say financial standing of each needed as 
much scanning as if they were matrimonial adventurers. At 
**Smith's Cash Store,'* whose manager and originator was 
from my own county, near the Market street wharf, and the 
landings whence the Klondikers slipped their cables and 
steamed with their loads of living and inanimate freight to the 
frozen North, was a good opportunity to see the miners mak- 
ing ready for a year's sojourn in their hyperborean homes. 
Here they were in numbers; some in their substituted rough 
clothing; others, as intent, who had not shed their genteel 
raiment, laying in their supplies from the suggestions of pro- 
fessional miners or expert clerks. Their purchases were of 
course made to suit their means; for the sales were neces- 
sarily for cash, but were mainly warm rough woolen clothing, 
mining tools and provisions; not forgetting tents and rubber 
blankets, and remembering "guns" and amunition. The gen- 
eral cost of these outfits per man was $200 for a year's stay. 
These were packed in boxes and bags of suitable weight for 
donkeys and Indians to "pack" over the portages and passes of 
the Chilkoot and Yukon. The bags were oiled and painted 
so their contents would withstand the weather. The earnest- 
ness of the buyers, seated around different tables listening to 
suggestions as to their needs, was interesting to students of 
human nature. 

The show windows, before the gold excitement filled with 
samples of general merchandise, now displayed "Klondike 
Goods" exclusively. Picks, shovels and gold-pans, jostled 
testing-tubes, mortars and pestles and other paraphernalia for 



254 AGAIN AROUND SAN FRANCISCO. 

proving "finds," and the delicate scales for weighing the dust. 
Near these were pyramids of canned goods ; among which was 
"soup-stock," suggesting the warmth it would generate in the 
"cool, bracing air" around the Passes of the Chilkoot when 
placed where it would do the most good. Amid the required 
hard-ware were whip-saws, such as were used hundreds of 
years ago before saw-mills were common. These were to cut 
the boards for building the boats for the descent of the Yukon, 
so that the "top-sawyer" and "pitman" of the far past were 
again realities. In another window was the clothing ; from 
the fur mask to protect the face from the mountain blizzard 
to the long boots for wading slush and ice-water. 

Every time I passed those windows the curious or interested 
in eager groups were looking at the contents ; most of them 
wishing they had the necessary $500 to take them to the gold- 
fields, while they commented on and criticised the goods. The 
cartoons in the windows were home-drawn but attractive. One 
I recall represented a Klondiker ascending a steamer's plank, 
dressed for Alaskan weather, and remarking in words, which 
floated in the air, whence he got his outfit. Behind was the 
man who "did not think it would be much of a shower." On 
his head was a straw hat, and his raiment, from linen-duster to 
low-cut shoes, was suggestive of summer. In one hand was a 
flat carpet-bag ; in the other a water-melon "done-up" in a 
shawl-strap. On his face was that "pleasant smile," between a 
smirk and a grin, such as the photographer evolves from his 
patient. Remindful of **before and after taking" was a com- 
panion picture : Scene — the summit of the Chilkoot Pass in- 
volved in a furious snow-storm. Dramatis Personae ; the man 
who got his outfit here trudging sturdily upward like him of 
the strangely devised Banner, before trouble came upon him, 
and laughing the blizzard to scorn ; behind him the chappie 

who dealt at the store over the way. Behold him ; shivering, 
icicles stalactiting his straw hat rim; his carpet-bag collapsed 
and his water-melon gone ; a forlorn party, indeed. 



CALIFORNIA REVISITED. 2^5 

The scenes in the offices of those who were getting up ex- 
cursions to the new El Dorado were no less interesting, and 
full of sadness withal, when we think of the probable results of 
this wild immigration* Here were schemers, apparently irre- 
sponsible, making arrangements with the gold-hunters to carry 
them thousands of miles on an ocean journey ; over difficult 
passes and down icy currents of swirling lakes and rivers. 
The listeners, with mouths agape, took in eagerly all that was 
said, in this strain : "Only twenty-five vacancies left ; good 
grub and sleeping quarters ; have to walk over the mountain 
of course; but the burros will carry your stuff; 1300 pounds 
apiece, if you want.** "Can you take a set of blacksmith 
tools?'* "Certainly; anvil, bellows and all" — this to an enquir- 
ing Vulcanite — "and I will personally conduct you.** Don*t 
listen to what these "sissies*' tell you about the dangers of a 
Klondike trip. Some want you to cut down trees, and make 
portable saw-mills of yourselves for boat stuff. Not if you go 
with us. You will find the boats all ready when you get to 
the lakes, and you can step right in. All nonsense about the 
cold and dangers of the Pass of the Chilkoot ; been over it 
myself, lots of times. These yarns arc got up by the steamer 
companies who want to take you four or five thousand miles, 
when we can take you to the same place in half that number.'* 
So the confiding Klondikers advance the required sum and 
start on their journey to be deserted, quite likely, long before 
their alleged destination is reached. Sights like these were 
common and the results have shown broken contracts, dis* 
heartened passengers and much suffering. 

A sequel to what I had seen and heard was the outfitting 
and loading of a Klondike .steamer, with its varied freight. 
One of these, the "Willamette,* lay at the wharf near Market 
street and to see the busy sights within and without I hied me 
thence. This vessel had been a collier and was being altered 
to a "Klondiker,** She was 340 feet long, 40 beam and 30 



256 AGAIN AROUND SAN FRANCISCO. 

deep and carried 2000 tons. The interior had been renovated, 
swept and garnished, and from lower hold to upper deck was 
fitted out with tier on tier of bunks, which the carpenters had 
not yet finished. These looked like shelves in a huge pantry, 
or, to make an uncanny comparison, like a vast vault waiting 
its silent lodgers ; seeming still more sepulchral when the 
steward put on the linen. The perpendicular space between 
bunks was not over two feet, and "cabined, cribbed, confined'* 
in these close quarters the Klondikers "must sleep o'nights." 
There were some 800 of these sleeping places on the steamer, 
not counting the stalls for pack-animals and draft-dogs on the 
open deck. The work of the carpenter, steward and the load- 
ing of freight, with the rattle of the hoisting machinery, made 
things lively indeed. Barrel after barrel and box after box of 
solid and liquid provender were swung off from the pier and 
placed in the dark recesses of the hold. Pork, beef, flour, 
sugar, dried-fruits, molasses and vinegar ; not forgetting 
whiskey and beer in quantities out of all proportion, were 
among them. Then there were the bundles of picks, shovels, 
drills and other mining tools. A small mountain of life-pre- 
servers and a cjozen life-rafts were a suggestive feature of the 
cargo. 

When I made a second visit the starting time was so near 
that policemen were guarding the wharf-gate to keep out all 
who were not Klondikers. 

The freight was now loaded ; that is the inanimate, and the 
pack-animals were being hoisted to the upper deck in cages. 
These the mules and horses entered with comparative resigna- 
tion. Then the gates were closed, the lashings tied across the 
top, and at a signal the living freight went aloft ; dazed and 
like Peterkin "wondering what it was all about.*' The burros 
were contrary, notwithstanding their cited patience. Seem- 
ingly from intuitive knowledge that in the cold regions where 
they were going they would soon end their days they kicked 



k 



CALIFORNIA REVISITED. 2$7 

against the efforts of the stevedores ; or maybe it was because 
they felt their keep because of the large demand for pack- 
animals for the Klondike ; burros having jumped from $io to 
$40; and hence grown rebellious. But the donkey engines 
were too much for the plain animal and away they went to 
join their fellow packers. 

Through delay in starting I did not see the **Willamette'* 
off; so with confusion around her I left the wharf, as the 
shades of night were falling, to hear through the morning's 
paper she had parted her moorings later on and was now well 
on her way towards the Arctic circle. 

From scenes of high life on Nob Hill ; low life in China- 
town ; the rush and roar of Market street ; the varied sights 
along the wharves, and the novelties and attractions of 
suburban resorts to the quiet of a Friends* Meeting was a 
change indeed ! Such a gathering would have been unthought 
of in the fifties, though I recall an appropriate' event in my 
early visit which I narrate. Going to the office of Sathers & 
Church, then prominent San Franciscan bankers, to get a draft 
cashed, I could only identify myself by comparing the writing 
in a letter I had from my father with his signature on the 
draft. This was insufficient and I was starting away prepared 
for a longer sojourn in California, when I was called back. 
The firm had been thinking over my case when one of them 
said "I see by his style of writing your father is a Friend ; 
that society is hardly known here ; but what I know about it 
satisfies me to give you the money.** Now there are several 
Meetings uf PViends. or those so called, on the Pacific coast. 
That at San P'rancisco has been in existence fifteen years and 
is a welcome resort to the followers of Fox visiting that city. 
The time of my home departure was on First-day and 1 went 
there in the forenoon. After my weeks of continuous travel 
and mental strain the opening silence of the gathering was 



2$8 AGAIN AROUND SAN FRANCISCO. 

soothing to my senses and when the spoken word came I was 
in a receptive mood. Then the "breaking meeting" with its 
hand shaking, and kind words from my San Francisco friends, 
and I left strengthened for future labors. 

*««««« ft 

The time had now come for making my second departure 
from California. That I had an interesting and enjoyable 
time there goes unsaid. It had been a wish for years, and one 
I feared would never be realized, to visit the scenes of my 
early wanderings, and now that it was gratified, thoug^h 
partially, I was ready to leave them. My travels now would 
be on new ground, bare of associations as well as differing in 
appearance from that passed. No more tropical trees and 
shrubbery. The palm and the orange are left behind with the 
Land of Sunshine, and a familiar local nomenclature replaces 
the Spanish names of town, mountain and river, which gave 
them a sentimental interest and took me back, to California's 
days of romance. I am now to go amid scenery scarified by 
mining and deforesting; now, as well as fifty years ago, full of 
agressive Americans, while that South of San Francisco was 
the land of Manana Mexicans and the mixed race under them. 
Now North and South the American holds sway, enterprise is 
universal and the unprogressive days of Castilian rule and in- 
fluence are forever gone ; and yet a tinge of regret comes with 
thoughts of the passing to the Californian of to day ; much as 
the married and well fixed look with yearning to their lover- 
days ; a time full of dreams and lacking the practical ; yet 
leading to a substantial present ! 

My friends all homeward bound, I confess to a lonely feel- 
ing as I packed up my belongings ; sending some of them home 
in advance, and then went among the ticket offices to arrange 
for my eastward transit ; for there were routes to select from 
and agreements to be ratified there. The business was not the 
most pleasant, for over questioning by prudent tourists had 



CALIFORNIA REVISITED. 3 

made the officials ungracious. Then to the busy wharf line; 
changed from of old but full of remembrances, and, as the 
shadows of night were darkening nature I crossed the ferry to 
Oakland. I fett like again apostrophizing the "Queen of the 
Pacific," as her prominent buildings and hills faded from my 
sight ; but 1 said nor wrote nothing. An oral address would 
have provoked comment from the unsympathetic passengers on 
the steamer ; it was too dark to see to write. So I went my 




THE SOLANO — LARGEST FERRY-BOAT IN THE WORLD. 

way with the rest of the practical crowd, sawing wood mentally 
and saying nothing. 

For the third time by rail where "Scottie" and I plodded 
along and we were soon at the straits of Carquinez, and cross- 
ing them on the monster ferry-boat "Solano;" so quietly we 
did not know when we left shore, were on our way through the 
darkness and up the Sacramento Valley, and again over our old 
tramping ground. I could not help thinking of the two ill-clad 



26o AGAIN AROUND SAN FRANCISCO. 

figures going from ranch to ranch in vain search for work while 
the pitiless rains soaked their clothing and the slippery mud 
made them tired. I was now traveling plain ; no beds to wait 
making up ; no contributions to enrich Pullman ; no tips to the 
colored porters, nor high-priced meals in high-toned hotels; 
just a common day-coach ; almost too common I thought at 
first, when I found some of my companions a little drunk and 
noisy, and sonoe were Chinese. Annoyed by songs and loud 
talk until near midnight I found room in a better car ahead and 
could not complain of my associates thereafter. When day- 
light came we were above Sacramento, rolling over a dry coun- 
try ; partly farmed ; partly given to orchards and grazing. 

We got to Redding, a mining center, in the morning. I 
found it an active place, on the shores of the Sacramento, with 
water-works and electric lights and stage-lines running in many 
directions. Wishing to see gold-mining operations I took a 
four-horse coach for Iron Mountain. The trail was the worst I 
ever traveled and in my overland journey I wagoned over some 
rough roads. There were six to eight men in the stage ; all 
miners, and though honest fellows not the best company. They 
swore like my old friends and companions, the ox-drivers, and 
in a general way their conversation was not of the drawing- 
room class. It was a long road ; thirty-two miles there and 
back, horizontally and vertically ; sharp grades and curves ; 
narrow track and dust ! I can hardly describe it. The Gaviote 
Pass, and succeeding grades were not in comparison. Up the 
river the road was good ; fair to Keswick, where the ores of 
neighboring mines are smelted ; the tug of traces came after- 
wards. The bed of Middle Creek had been washed for gold 
since the fifties, and from where we struck it, as it enters the 
Sacramento, to where we left it shows washes and rewashes • 
first by Americans, then by Chinese. The hills were pitted and 
scarified by tunnels and hydraulic mining. 

A cloud of vapor showed our approach to Keswick. A nar- 



CALIFORNIA REVISITED. 26l 

row-guage railroad runs to the summit of Iron Mountain ; 
twisting and squirming like the snake whose direction could 
not be known, as it "doubled on its track, whether it was going 
home or coming back." This brings the ores down from the 
mines at the summit to Keswick for smelting, and joins the 
broad-guage at the river. The vapor from the copper and 
arsenic, mixed with the other metals, not only injures per^ 
manently the health of the men in the works but so kills the 
foliage on the surrounding mountain sides that it suggests a 
heavy frost. Evergreens as well as deciduous trees suffered 
alike. Fires had also blackened the slopes ; for the dead tim^ 
ber is easily ignited ; so between dust, vapor and these the ride 
was not an inviting one. On the way we passed hydraulic 
pipes, crawling up and down the hills from reservoirs to ore- 
banks; mines and reduction works, idle from want of water, 
tents and shanties of miners, and scant patches of vegetables 
gasping for rain. The trees were the long leafed pine, scrub- 
oak and manzanita ; the last with its glossy red bark and laurel- 
like leaves ; beautiful to look on when not blighted. Shanty 
after shanty, houses they call them here, were being built at 
Keswick, and the chapparal cleared off to make room for more. 
Saloons were multiplying and the typical booming town was 
apparent, but church there was none. We were soon climbing 
the side of the mountain and getting above the sulphurous and 
arsenical vapors which fumed up from the reduction works — 
veiling the landscape and poisoning the air. But dust was all 
around ; it arose, descended, pursued and met us. The rickety 
Concord coach which looked as if it might have crossed the 
plains time and again and been subject to periodical hold-ups 
from road-knights, and upsets and runaways down grades, 
lurched and jolted as we swung corners and dived into gullies. 
On some slopes I thought we needed a "hold-up*' different from 
the conventional one. Sometimes, as we shot down a hill, I 
felt as shaky as the Concord was. Oh, Charlie I boasted lines- 



'262 AGAIN AROUND SAN FRANCISCO. 

man, and all around Sam Weller, bear they bursted shoe harder 
on the brake as we go down in the gulch ! Oil this curve, 
when we double the deep and steep ravine, hold the wheelers 
heads more to the bank, and, rounding the bend, don*t run so 
on the point 1 I thought this ; I said nothing. Twere best so. 
Your Hank Monks want no interfering. So I held on to the 
post and trusted to California Luck. I sat with ChaHie at the 
start. I generally tried to get with the driver but I got enough 
of my wishes this time. It was a hot day; a dusty day, and a 
sweaty day ; there were three on a seat, and I was in the mid- 
dle. There were counter currents laden with the odor of dis- 
tilled fruits and grains passing before me as my companions 
swapped stories which needed a fumigation which their cigars 
did not furnish. Half way up I asked to be excused and went 
inside. Meeting teams was dangerous work on the narrow 
road. At one point we met a man — -a mining sport — and what 
Bret Harte would call **the female of his species," in an open 
wagon. There was but the one thing to do ; so with Charlie's 
help they ungeared and lifted the wagon out of the way down 
the slope, when by making themselves as thin as possible, 
horses and all, we got by. Then Charlie helped them to rights 
again, when they took a triangular, woman*s-rights sort of a 
drink; after which libation we all went on our way; our in- 
formal "insides" shouting adieux to the couple. The sun 
glared down while the dust arose until our four grays were the 
color of the road. Soon a six-horse log-team blocked the way 
from an accident, and we had to wait, as we could not lift them 
to one side like the others, until damages were repaired. There 
is no passing of heavy teams except at wide apart sidings on 
the "grade." At last we came among tents and shanties and 
rough characters, and the typical mining town was before us in 
all its wildness. Just beyond this the canyon closed in so we 
could go no further. The narrow-guage was below us, at the 
foot of the ravine, while up the mountain slope was a tunnel 



CXLIVORmX REVISITED. 263 

whence came the ore that fed the Keswick reduction works. 
Three hundred steps led to this, enough to tire the men before 
going to work. It was too near noon and the tunnel too wet; 
so I did not enter the mine, but sat down and awaited the com- 
ing of the miners. At a signal they came filing out ; wet and 
^rimey; looking like gnomes; two hundred of them; greasy 
lamps in their hats and brass tags at their belts, whose numbers 
answered for names. Coming out they seated themselves on 
the steps, when at a second signal they went down them, "hop^ 
skip and jump*^ for dinner. 

The Iron Mountain Company, owning this mine, was an Eng- 
lish organization and its holdings included other mines, a rail- 
road leading down to the river and the reduction works at 
Keswick. The superintendent gave me an order to see what I 
wished to, but between the heat, dust and the fumes from the 
foot of the mountain, I was too near "done up" to avail myself 
of the kindness, and hunting a shady spot waited anxiously for 
Charlie's going. I much regretted the turn afTai/s had taken, 
but I was glad when we were ready to start down the mountain, 
with four passengers ; two of them a man and wife. The man 
was a miner ; his wife a laundress, whose dusty "wash*' we had 
seen out. They were going for an outing to a son's claim on 
the Trinity ; fifty miles away, and were making it a practical 
pic-nic, as along with their bedding and cooking utensils, they 
had pick, shovel and pan along — a California afTair throughout 
The woman was plucky. Though suffering with a felon, which 
had made her content to leave her laundry in her daughter's 
hands, she held to her post, literally, while the stage rocked 
and surged, without ever an Oh, my ! The man rode with 
Charlie ; marital politeness being honored in the breach rather 
than in the observance in these mountains. Soon away we 
went. I was going to say "crack went the whip round went 
the wheels," but I believe I have said it before. "Round went 
the whip, crack went the wheels" sounded more like it ; as the 



264 AGAIN AROUND SAN FRANCISCO. 

grays let themselves out, under Charlie's stimulus, and tore 
down the dusty way. We swung, we rose, we fell on our bed 
of leather; until the old saw, that there was nothing like it, 
came to our senses. Sometimes we were on three wheels, 
sometimes on two, and sometimes it seemed as if we were as 
aerial as Mahomet's coffin. But my mining vis-a vis said that 
was the way with Concord coaches ; but they always came 
down right, like a cat. Once we met a similar, and a rival 
team, but, by backing a ways, we let it by and all went well. 
It is interesting such times to note how each driver considers 
the down-hill side of the road the post of honor and with what 
courtesy he asks the other to take it in passing. A glance 
down the hundreds of feet below induces this Chesterfieldian 
politeness ; for there we saw great possibilities of ground and 
lofty tumbling. All the while the woman picknicker showed 
an absence from stage-fright, and a serenity, which her felonious 
finger scarcely marred. This came natural to one like her, who 
had crossed the plains at ten years old ; when Indians were In- 
dians, and bears and mountain-lions growled and fought as was 
their nature to, and the wolfs lone howl came at night from the 
prairie. The husband, for all his stage-manners, was consid- 
erate in his way ; for at Keswick, he got her a glass of beer, 
while he made up for the wear and tear of tissue on the "grade" 
with something more manly. The speed of our descent soon 
brought us down to the sulphur and arsenic strata, and a lung- 
taste of the vapor made us understand how the poor smelters in 
the works below coughed their lives away. Again we were on 
Middle Creek, whose shores and hill-sides, scarred and rent> 
seemed in mute protest against man's greed for gold. We 
changed horses at Keswick and leaving that sun scorched col- 
lection of shanties, and sham-fronted buildings of higher pre- 
tensions, soon came in sight again of the bright waters of the 
Sacramento. On this stream I saw the two extremes in modes 
of placer mining, or washing gold from beds of streams. Near 



CALIFORNIA REVISITED. 265 

the shore was a steam -dredger scooping up great hods of sand 
and gravel ; screening out the coarse and washing the gold 
from the fine. Just below was an old-fashioned miner's cradle 
which a man was rocking to separate the precious metal from 
the sand he periodically shoveled in. This last was going back 
to old times ; the days of the Argonauts. 

At the Redding suburbs our picknickers got out at a friend's 
to await their son's coming from the Trinity, and where a 
"strike" was soon after made which I hope they shared. They 
had quite a formidable "outfit/' which Charlie passed down to 
them. I had a genuine invitation from the miners to accom- 
pany them on their outing, but my limited ticket and time 
made me decline it with thanks. We soon, under Charlie's 
guidance, whose motto was to save the gallop for the journey's 
end, drove to our hotel, which I left the next morning on our 
way North. 

Our route was still up the Sacramento Valley. Another 
gold-dredger took our attention and the river shores and beds 
of hill-side streams were rent by the claws of the gold demon 
who, like some fabled monster, had scratched and tunneled and 
smote the forest until the face of nature was unpleasant to look 
upon, and whose sulphurous breath fumed from the smelters. 
Around here there is much litigation among mine owners about 
water rights; resulting in injunctions and shutting down of 
mills, cutting of dams and tapping of pipes. A mining country 
is not a land of peace ; for when the companies are not fighting 
one another they joust with the farmers who resent having their 
land covered with their washings. The river grew narrower 
and banks wooded. Now and then abandoned saw-mills showed 
themselves; their roofless, bleached frames representing the 
skeletons of dead corporations. Near noon we saw Castle Crag, 
a remarkable turreted rock surmounting a hill. We passed 
several cultivated patches along the narrow valley ; the abiding 
places of "squaw-men" — whites who had married Indian women. 



766 1KM1S ARODKD SAIf PRARCISCD. 

A man who would be content to live here would be satisfied 
with a squaw-wife. At Shasta Springs, where there is a hotel, 
a fine cascade conies down the rocks. The timber grows larger 




and saw-mills again appear; the logs coming in wooden flumes 
around the hills. At Sisson we sighted Mount Shasta, a noted 
land-mark, near 15,000 feet high. The summit is fifteen miles 



CALIFORNIA REVISITED. 267 

from the station and can be reached in from one and a half to 
• two days. What I thought were strips of yellow sand reaching 
half way down from the peak was snow ; why so colored I 
don't know. This feeds hundreds of streams coursing down the 
mountain sides. Here are bear and deer in quantities to glad- 
den a hunter's heart. Shasta is an extinct volcano ; so is Black 
Butte we saw farther on. 

We were now rising Siskiyou Mountain. By heavy grades 
we made an S, and slowly reached the top through a tunnel. 
Had I not been sated with grand sights I would have been awed 
with the scenes around me. Mountains on a level with us and 
spreading valleys far below ! The system can only take in so 
much, and the mental digestive apparatus revolts at more. We 
saw the trail from Yreka to Goldburg winding over an adjacent 
range and a four-horse stage coming down the slope. The 
first name recalls a baker's sign in that town in the long ago, 
which, lettered "Yreka Bakery" read back and forth the same; 
so with open work, it could be utilized coming up or down the 
street. The timber about us was white and red pine and fir, 
manzanita and madrone. The foliage of the last showed glossy 
leaves, green and yellow, and the red berries glowing between 
made it a beautiful tree. There were large alders in bloom. 
The farms we were now passing looked home-like with a 
growth of timothy; the first grass of the kind we had seen since 
leaving Nebraska. 

Humanity, in its different pha.ses, was again prominent in our 
day-coach ; more so than in the Pullman, where it was more 
evenly graded or there was more repression used. With us 
were the well to do as also the needy ; for some were pros- 
perous Californians on a visit East and who were used enough 
to hard knocks to not mind six nights sleep in a car seat. The 
closeness of one eastern tourist, who boasted of his wealth, was 
amusing. His meals were doughnuts and the fruit of the coun- 
try passed through ; the dry food moistened by coffee from a 



268 AGAIN AROUND SAN FRANCISCO. 

can replenished at halting stations. What he had not seen was 
marvelous in its non-importance. And then the slumming he 
had done in San Francisco ! He was one of those who thought 
it his duty to study up the lowest life that he might learn how 
to put the innocent on guard, and as inclination seemed to walk 
hand in hand with duty it became all the pleasanter. His sons, 
who had similar tastes in the way of humanity study, said to 
him at parting, "Father I you are going to visit a city where 
nothing is hidden from those who wish to see. They say it is 
equal to Paris. We cannot all go. Learn all you can and re- 
port when you get back." He certainly had not wanted for 
object lessons in San Francisco, and had conscientiously made 
the most of his opportunities. With a formidable society badge, 
almost equaling a policeman's in size, he had passed it as a de- 
tective's, and thrusting assumedly necessary guides to one side 
had freely gone where he listed. By a sudden exposure of this 
talisman, which he exemplified for his listeners benefit, he had 
scared remonstrant Chinese dive-keepers and impressed Ameri- 
cans until Chinatown to its revolting depths was an open book 
to him. Catch him paying rascally guides while he had that 
badge ? But he put this to legitimate uses in getting hospitality 
from Californians; many of them ready to be imposed on when 
desirous to show off their pet state. The attentions he had and 
the sights seen, and all free ! His experience would fill a small 
book. But enough of him. 

There was another character ; an Oregonian youth who had 
the distinction of owning two living fathers and as many mothers 
with sisters, cousins and aunts in proportional quantities. The 
parents were all divorcees. The young man talked familiarly 
of his quadruplex parentage and each individual causus belli. 
He seemed a sort of go between among the warring factions, 
although he expressed a preference for his own individual 
mother, whom he had just visited, over his father's late venture. 
He was lately from the mines, where he had got so used to 



CAUPORNIA REVISITED. 269 

riotous living he had concluded to take the chances at home, 
where he could look a little to his interests. For one so young, 
he was but eighteen, he had seen much of life outside family 
matters. He was a well spoken, happy-go-lucky sort of a fel- 
low, and his unconscious confidences and descriptions of the 
country pleasantly passed the lagging night hours away. He 
seemed to think the state of Oregon society not unusual, and 
only wrong from its inconveniences, and his family experiences 
not so much of a shower, as one of his neighbors had a fourth 
wife ; the three antecedents "not lost and gone before," in the 
obituary sense ; but still in the flesh. They had been taken 
from him by Oregonian statutes especially made and provided 
for such cases, and were mostly married to other bereft men. 

The excuses for nagging in such families must be many in 
comparison with those in the East, where the husband can only 
allude to his mother's cookery and the possible superiority of 
some former sweetheart's ; but here, in the far West, he can re- 
mind his third or fourth matrimonial venture of the extra bread- 
baking attainments of his first, second or third wives as well as 
those of his mother and previous flame. The capabilities of 
turmoil in such a household are fearful to contemplate. 

Society in the extreme west seems on shaky foundations — in 
some sections, at least. Between free and easy divorce laws ; 
Mormonism spilled over the borders from Utah, and allowed 
inmoralities there is great need of moral disinfectants. An- 
other young man in our car was an example of cnnnyed life— 
unless he was playing me for a gullible tender-foot. With a 
father assessed at ^15,000,000 he had wandered the wide world 
over, seeking a remedy for the presence of "Consumption's 
ghastly form" which had siezed him and devoured one of his 
lungs. From his Wisconsin home he had gone to Oregon, 
where he spoke of his investments in townships of valuable 
timber lands as if they had been quarter-sections; then to 
Florida where he reveled in the ownership of orange groves, 



270 AGAIN AROUND SAN FRANCISCO. 

next to Southern California to other citrous ventures. A frugal 
mind to a frail body was his status, and he had at last found 
that to when he crossed the dark river was only that uncertain, 
certain question, a question of time. That settled, the next one 
was how to get the most pleasure out of life's remainder. So 
he tried Germany with its scenes and people ; gay Paris and 
its sodden pleasures ; foggy London with its gas-lit» uncertain 
antidotes for trouble ; but he wearied of them all. He was 
now a rough clad miner from the Trinity on his way to his 
timbered kingdom in Oregon. A blaze, Ufe-drained-to-the- 
dregs sort of a man he seemed, and a cynic and misanthrope 
withal. He gave his future and present addresses that I 
might verify his financial statements, but I never tested them, 
so whether D. F. Smith, his given name, was telling an **ower 
true tale** or not I don't know, nor care. Wearied with his 
exertions, or simply bored beyond endurance, he sank back in 
his seat and our interview ceased. Other characters were 
mining couples with their implements, changing locations, an 
exemplification of the restlessness of California life. Their 
look and talk reminded me of the "pards** in Bret Harte's 
stories. 

My fellow passenger*s conversation did not absorb all my 
attention. It was dark without, but distant mountain fires as- 
sumed proportions grand, indeed ; though valuable timber was 
going up in smoke. Two tall trees — pardon the alliteration — 
which were ablaze looked like immense candles for the moun- 
tain altar rising darkly above them. At another point, where 
we halted, the dry timber crackled until we could hear the 
burning, while the sky was lighted as if a volcano was in ir- 
ruption. Two mountain elevations could be seen on fire at 
the same time. 

At Albany was an agricultural exhibit on the station plat- 
form, and whenever a train-load of tourists halted for lunch a 
"literary feller" connected with the local paper was ready to 



CALIFORNIA REV1SITEB. 27I 

exploit Oregon's advantage as a farming state, and to invite 
us to help ourselves to the fruit — as long as it lasted. It was 
simply wonderful what crops they raised ; wheat, barley, oats 
and hay. *'What about corn?" asked a smart tourist. Now 
corn, as on the toe of the average man, is a tender subject 
with our Pacific-slope farmers. The soil is too hard ; the rain 
too scant, or the frosts too early; so it is not a brag crop. 
The Albanian "barker" was ready for the questioner, however. 
He said **Give us our climate and take your cornV Timothy 
heads thirteen inches long, buckwheat so tall the bees fainted 
with weariness before they could reach the blossom, and other 
strange yarns were told. 

We dropped our entertaining passengers as we sped along ; 
the cynical, cosmopolitic consumptive, and the wandering 
miners. Just after passing the California line, and near Salem, 
Oregon's capital, we left the multi-parented youth. We parted 
with the windy Economical-scientist at Portland. 

The scenery and vegetation showed we were in a section 
where there was an abundance of rain the year round — the 
Siskiyou mountains seeming to mark climatic bounds. The 
moss on the ranch roofs, the green grass and larger timber 
were in evidence, while stump-land made manifest a former 
wooded country. We were also in a region of hop-fields and 
orchards ; the last illy cared for. 

To Portland on the Willamette, twelve miles from the Colum- 
bia, noted for its water-power and saw-mills, we came in the 
afternoon. We ferried the river on the "Tacoma," a large boat 
on which the whole train was run. The Columbia was a fine 
sight ; in Bryant's early days under another name, when he 
wrote 

'•Where rolls the Oreg^on, 
Monarch of the hills and hears no M)und 
Save its own dashings.*' 

But it now hears the plash of screw and paddle wheel ; the 



272 AGAIN AROUND SAN FRANCISCO. 

"salmon-catcher," the shriek of locomotive and factory whistle 
much more than "its own dashings/' 

Our ferry-boat landed us at Tacoma where our route made a 
right angle — from North to East. We left at 5 o'clock on 
August 5. The "hoboes" who had been following us from San 
Francisco now left us ; perhaps for the Klondike. Their per- 
sistence was wonderful. They rode on the trucks as on the 
outward route ; jumping on and off as the trains slowed up or 
started, at the risk of their worthless lives. I don't think the 
train hands cared to disturb them though so ordered by their 
employers. How they escaped death was a miracle. 

By morning we had passed prairie and forest, and were roll- 
ing over, what on our westward trip we would have called a 
desert, with a low range of mountains in the far North. ViL 
lages of scattered, weather-beaten houses and "dug-outs" we 
saw now and then. Grease-wood abounded in the wire-fenced 
range, and shallow lakes were seen in the distance. These, 
when drained, make fine timothy land except, as sometimes 
happens, their bottoms are covered with moss. Then came 
more cattle-towns with corrals and brown houses, where we 
could see round up "vaqueros" of the "Hair-trigger Jim" 
species, and now and then a real "blanket Indian," with long 
hair, turned-in toes and bowed out knees, and apparently ready 
for the stereotyped grunt, "Big injin me; want much fire- 
water!" At noon we passed a fine mountain lake — Pokolallah 
and then rolled over a stretch of unsettled country. A beauti- 
ful body of water was Lake Pen d'Oreille — Ear-drop — whose 
arms we twice crossed. We were a half-hour along its borders. 
There were rude houses on its shores and beautiful islands ris- 
ing above its surface. A little steamer plows its waters. High 
mountains on its further shore make Lake Pen d'Oreille a thing 
of beauty and a joy while it is in sight. At Hope, near its 
eastern end, we sat our watches an hour ahead. 



CALIFORNIA REVISITED. 2/3 

We were soon on Clarke's fork of the Columbia, a rapid 
stream lined with high mountains, whose edge we wound along 
above the river's brink for many miles. We came from its 
valley to a wheat country — the straw still green, although the 
5th of August, and afterwards passed over large tracts of cattle- 
lands. We were now in Idaho. In this section the descendants 
of Indian ponies, no longer needed, are getting to be as much 
of a nuisance as rabbits in Central California. They are as wild 
as deer and only come from their mountain pasture grounds 
when they want water. In so doing they meet barbed wire 
fences. The leaders are young stallions ; but like army gen- 
erals they lead by pushing from the rear. When the front 
ranks strike the cruel abattis of wire they hesitate, but hundreds 
of eager, thirsty horses are forced against them until the ground 
is covered with the wounded or dying ; for all the world like 
the result of a cavalry charge. It is in vain the settlers strive 
to keep these pitiful pests from their own horses. A company 
is now being formed for their slaughter and conversion into 
canned beef for the European market. They will pay one dol- 
lar and a half apiece for them. When we think that the ante- 
cedents of those poor brutes were the war and hunting horses 
of the red-rovers of this land there is a pathos about the story. 

The morning of August 6 found us in Montana, passing over 
a broad semi-desert plain with isolated mountains around it and 
a range, sharply serrated, in the distance. The land was 
sparcely settled, and soil gravelly or swampy. The houses and 
few buildings for the protection of stock in winter were roofed 
with straw or sods. Many of the mountain peaks were white 
with snow ; while the plam was in spots yellow with dwarf sun- 
flower. We at last came to a range of mountains, and tunnel- 
ling them, arrived at Livingston at 7.30 in the morning. 



XIII. 



j^Found Yellou3|tone Jarl^, and ^ome. 



Oh I Land of lake and fwhiiig stveam ; 
Of mimic mountains belchii^ steam -, 
Of "Yeast-pots** brewing odorous leaven 
And sulphur'pook whkh smell to kcaTen, 
Where Nature lies in primal state, 

Aweing or pleasing to the view ; 
Where big game mock the hunter's lust 

And fishers tales are ta'en as true I 
We enter now thy realms so grim. 
To leave beads full and purses slim. 

^T San Francisco we were warned at ticket offices that 
you must buy these paste-board tokens at once for 
the Yellowstone Park — to go early and avoid the 
rush. My experience has been, from side-show to grand opera, 
that those who have the money can get the cake always, and 
that knocking off the persimmon is only a question of length of 
pole. 

There are three ways of going through the Park ; with the 
Yellowstone Park Association, which owns four large hotels — 
it had a fifth which burned down — and one permanent camp. 
Its conveyances number eighty-two four and six-horse coaches 
and three to four hundred horses, as the season demands. 

(274) 




CALIFORNIA REVISITED. 275 

Next comes the Wylie Transportation Company which has 
stationary camps, during three months, of wall and dining tents ; 
after these come the go-as-you-please, two and four-horse 
teams, carrying from four to a dozen passengers, with wagons 
going each day in advance of the stages, with provisions and 
camping outfits, which are suppositiously ready for eating and 
sleeping when the passengers arrive ; but often failing. To go 
with the first costs ^9.50; the second ^35.00 ; the third from 
^20 to $30. The Association has fine hotels and coaches of 
the Concord brand and its patrons look down on the Wylies 
and their canvas homes and inferior turn-outs. The Wylies 
retaliate on the Independents and the last for lack of some one 
else take pity on the poor bicyclists and emigrants wending 
their way through the Park. I traveled with the Independents. 

Getting off at Livingston, the sea-port, as it were, of the 
Park, we found plenty who wanted passengers for their coaches. 
This place is just half way between Saint Paul and Tacoma ; 
1000 miles from either. From Livingston to Cinnabar, where 
the stages start, is a railroad fifty-one miles long, following the 
Yellowstone river and through canyons whose slopes rise 2000 
feet from the water. At noon we came to Cinnabar, a weather- 
beaten, verdureless place, but full of life for three months in the 
year from tourist traffic. The coal mines and coke furnaces in 
the neighborhood lend it some importance. Now there is a 
difference between drivers and cooks as to the origin of this 
town's name. Some say, from the back-woods pronunciation 
of bear, that it comes from sktn-a-b'ar', others, as well posted, 
say seen-aMar\ while others still derive it from a contraction of 
Cinnamon bear. The name really comes from some streaks of 
reddish mineral on the side of a near-by mountain resembling 
Cinnabar; whence comes mercury. Coming to this place, 
four of us made a bargain with an "Independent" to take us 
on what he called a 156 mile drive. Our waggps numbered 
two ; one for ourselves, the other for the camp-outfit, and 



2/6 AROUND YELLOWSTONE PARE AND HOME. 

driven by the cook. The terms were $27.00 each ; time five 
and a half days. Our way at first was up Gardiner river on 
whose canyon-wall was an eagle's nest 1500 feet above us. 
The next sight, and a big advance, was Mammoth Hot 
Springs. Here, near a government, "two-company" post is a 
large, "Association" hotel. The soldiers, cavalry, are trim 
looking fellows and their business is to take the names of all 
visitors, see that they have no guns and patrol the Park from 
end to end, so far as travel demands. Emigrants can carry 
arms through the Park, but the hammers must be sealed, so 
that succeeding guards can see if they have been fired. If 
they have the owners will be fired — from the Park, but not 
until after trying government rations in the guard house, for a 
more or less time, and paying a fine. 

I don't want to dwell too much on the wonders of the Park. 
The guide-books are full of them and lecturers have dwelt on 
them time and again ; but I must say something, for the place 
is full of marvels. Around the "Springs" there are many in- 
teresting formations. There were "Liberty Cap," "Devil's 
Thumb," "Devil's Kitchen," "Minerva's Terrace," and num- 
bers besides. We climbed the Terrace, scalded our hands in 
boiling pools, sweated in the darkness of the Devil's cooking 
apartment, slid the **slide," also belonging to the same gentle- 
man, and did other acts and things required of tourists. One 
remarkable circumstance, considering the immense calcarous 
deposits, a hundred feet high sometimes, and the logical hard- 
ness of the water, was that when this water was cooled off it 
was good to drink. The thinness of the shell, as shown by 
extinct springs, looks as if it must be dangerous near the pools, 
but we heard of no accidents. Minerva Terrace was a grand 
affair in its semblance to a series of cascades suddenly arrested 
in their descent and petrified. But it is not my mission, as I 

intimated above, to go into statistics or in raptures over scen- 
ery. There is one thing ever changing, ever new — incidents 
along the route and I shall devote much of my space to them. 



CAUPORNIA RKVISITBD. 27f 

Leaving the Springs we passed up a mountain road. We 
noticed an immense amount of dead timber standing, leaning 
or down, caused by a fire which, nine years ago, swept for 
miles through these mountains. The trees would have made 
good fire-wood but the Government, for its Posts, and the 
hotel company, for fuel and lighting, prefer to haul coal from 
Cinnabar at $9.00 per ton. The hotels in the Park are elec* 
trie-lighted and have all the conveniences of Eastern summer 
resorts. 

Passing a portal called the Golden Gate, cut through the 
solid rock, we rode over a wooden causeway, projecting from a 
hill too steep to cut a road from. The rocks were highly 
colored which arose above us. For eight miles we went up a 
canyon ; the rise being 2000 feet. At an elevation of 7200 
feet above sea-level we came to a mountain-circled plain, in 
the middle of which was Swan Lake. We saw none of those 
fowls whose song is sweetest when dying ; but there were 
ducks swimming on its surface ; tame enough, for they had 
never heard the report of a gun, unless from some sneaking 
poacher, and the Government shows such scant mercy that 
such is rarely heard. We soon came to Willow Creek, from 
whose surface we saw trout leaping, which set our sporting 
passenger wild for a chance to hook them. He had just been 
tantalized by the ducks on the Lake ; but shooting being 
tabooed his nature had to explode in another direction. You 
can fish till you get tired. There were deer all around us, but 
even if seen they were as safe as duck or swan. Out of the 
fine herd of buffalo once in the Park but few are left. Some 
are killed by poachers in remote corners, while many wander 
over the boundary to surrounding states and are mercilessly 
slaughtered. Of about 400 of these harmless, picturesque ani- 
mals, which it was thought with care might be perpetuated, 
but 80 remain. Boundary stones are being closely set on the 
Park lines that hunters can have no excuse for trespassing, 



2/8 AROUND YELLOWSTONE PARK AND HOME. 

but the time for the extinction of the Bison, which on my 
former journey over the plains roamed in countless thousands, 
is near at hand. 

It costs near $30,000 a year for the Government to keep its 
1 50 miles of Park roads in order. The spring floods wash 
them badly and the wood in the numerous bridges and hill- 
side fenders is so perishable — mainly spruce — that there must 
be renewals about every three years. Uncle Sam is certainly 
a careful guardian of his Park tourists* safety, as well as of his 
animal wards ; a paternal uncle, if the bull is allowable. For 
this the road-makers toil and the soldiers go their watchful 
rounds. 

The July snows on the mountains, the sparkling streams 
coursing over the natural meadows or down ravines, the rapids 
and waterfalls, excited our attention as we went our way. As 
far as was possbile everything was in a state of nature. The 
nation has reserved a portion of its broad domains, 60 miles 
by 70 in area, which man shall not disturb ; whether he be 
farmer, miner or town builder. The Park Association can 
erect necessary hotels and graze its horses on the natural 
meadows; but nothing more. Mountain, valley and plain 
must be left as near as can be when Coulter, one of Lewis and 
Clark's hunters, saw the wonders of the Yellowstone about 
1809. His stories of spouting geysers, ponds of burning mud 
and steaming water condemned him as the champion liar. It 
was not until 1871 that a general knowledge of the Park won- 
ders were confirmed and justice done the abused discoverer; 
to change him from a Tom Pepper to a ** Truthful James." 

The land was withdrawn from settlement and reserved for 
public use under severe restrictions. The incrustations around 
the springs must not be disturbed, nor any matter thrown in 
the vents. Growing timber must remain uncut. The killing 
of birds or wild animals is forbidden unless to protect human 
life. Loose stock will be siezed if found ; in traveling through 



CALIFORNIA REVISITED. 279 

the ground all must be driven, ridden or led. Drinking saloons 
or bar-rooms are not allowed. Those violating Park rules will 
be summarilly evicted, or fined and imprisoned not exceeding 
$1000 or two years; as they may have offended. 

We encamped on the shores of Willow Creek. Our cook 
had preceded us but had made poor headway. It had been 
thirty-four years since I had experienced camp-life and here 
was I, at an age when its discomforts rob it of romance, trying 
It anew. But it was more like my wild life of forty years ago 
when I looked at the snowy mountains^ grassy meadowS) 
wooded ravines and bright streams around me. 

There were several camping parties about us, and the fires 
shooting through the darkness, the tinkling bells of the graz- 
ing horses, the laughter from the near camps and the cayote 
howls from the distant mountains were as echoes from the 
past. The horses numbered thirty and were tired after their 
weary way over hills and through dust. As the darkness in* 
creased I foresook my note-taking for a seat at the fire ; the 
other passengers having gone fishing. The mosquitos were 
plenty, though never mentioned in the guide-book — sort of 
thrown in for good measure. Our fishermen returned with 
usual luck, and then came supper at last. Ham, bread and 
butter, beans — Boston-baked — canned apricots, coffee — here 
was "richness" that beat Squeers' menu at Dotheboy*s Hall. 
Eggs were on the list, but there were so many failures to sue* 
cesses in the testing that our cook gave them up. We had no 
table ; an oil-cloth spread over the undulating ground took its 
place. We envied the more **toney'* passengers in the ad- 
jacent camp their clothed tables and civilized setting. Not 
even a candle to light us ; the camp-fire was thought sufficient* 
I longed for the old-time bayonet stuck in the ground, with its 
candle flaring from its socket. 

Our first camp-meal was a disappointment. The plates were 
tin as well as the coflee cups ; the ham lacked flavor ; the con- 



280 AROUND YELLOWSTONE PARK AND HOME. 

densed milk spoiled the coflfee, the butter was Samsonic. On 
the principle of "If you don't like the meat eat the mustard*' 
we fell back on the apricots and made out a supper ; but on 
the whole it was a failure and I wished myself with the Trans- 
portation Company, or the Wylie folks in their hotels and per- 
manent camps. But when the journey was over I was glad I 
went through the Park as I did. The others had the comforts ; 
we had an interesting experience. The cook said he was glad 
I had been a camper; wouldn't be so particular ; last gang he 
cooked for was rather too nice ; wanted cut-glass, China and 
pie! 

For my fellow passengers ; one was a retired Washington 
gentleman, the other two a Baltimore school teacher and his 
pupil — a Modern Mentor and Telemaehus on their travels. 
Our driver was Jo Cain ; a character. He was about thirty 
years old, good-looking and well built and with a Mark Twain 
drawl which was natural but fetching. He introduced him- 
self with, "Think of the man who killed Abel and you will 
know how I spell my name; that is if you have ever read the 
Bible." ' • 

. **There are bears" — he should have said **b'ar," to have carried 
out the unities, but he did not. "There are bears around here," said 
Jo. "I noticed where they had been clawing around our camp 
for grub ; but they won't hurt you ; stick their heads under 
the tent and nose round ; that's all : no more'n so many hogs. 
Then there's mountain lions; some folk's afeared of 'em. 
They're cowards ; a dog'll run 'em. But wild-cats ! Zounds," 
(he didn't say zounds) "Look out for 'cm. Chaw and claw 
you up in a minute. Do you hear them sounds from the 
mountains ? One's a wild cat ; tother's a Ki-yote." You 
wouldn't believe how smart a Ki-yote is ; he's got more savvey 
than some white folks I know. I've knowed one of *em in 
the early mornin' to go one direction from a ranch and howl 
like sin, and have the dogs after him. Then his pard would 



CALIFORNIA REVISITED. 28 1 

come in from tother side and rake in a young lamb and drag 
it off to the hills where the other Ki-yote would soon meet 
him. Then the dogs would sneak back lookin' simple enough. 
Who's that coarse voiced feller ? Oh ! he's a bull-dog over at 
camp. You want to know some of my experience on the 
plains ! Well ! I had it young. When a ten-year old in New- 
braskey, I was caught in a blizzard huntin' cattle and snowed 
under. I was brought home froze. When I was comin' too 
I suffered so I begged 'em to let me die. I won't forget that 
blizzard for another reason. It was a thin-settled country but 
we had our schools. That morning our young woman teacher 
started for hers, but never was seen again alive. Got dazed 
by the flyin' snow and lost her way. Didn't find her till the 
drifts melted." 

We took turns riding along side of Jo, and a whole-souled, 
entertaining man he was ; full of his experiences and ac- 
quainted with the Park from previous journeys; and with such 
a drawl ! 

That night we were trCfited to echoes of the last political 
campaign — the bi-metallic battle of giants. The old saying 
that "speech is silvern ; silence is golden" won't do now days. 
The silent one gets left. So our Democratic advocate of the 
yellow metal used his tongue ; so did the Democratic up- 
holder of free-silver, and they smote one another, hip and 
thigh, until the welkin rang and neighboring campers came to 
see what was the matter. Telemachus and I held our peace. 
As no one's mind was changed neither good nor harm was 
done. The driver and cook, like nearly all people in that sec- 
tion, were for the white metal and plenty of it. 

The next morning we passed Obsidian Cliff, a glass forma- 
tion. The narrow road was quarried out in a novel way that 
reminded me of Hannibal's engineering feat in his famous 
crossing of the Alps. The obsidian formation being too hard 
to blast, fires were built at the base of the cliff and water 



282 AROUND YELLOWSTONE PARK AND HOME. 

thrown against it with a hose. The result was a cracking- and 
disintegration which accomplished its object and is plainly 
shown in the debris of black glass along the roadside. 

We next passed some beaver^ams and the stumps from 
which the trees had been cut to build them. The tops were 
gnawed in conical form, and some were six inches across. 
Now Jo was as well versed in the ways of the lower order of 
animals as of men. **Do you know how them fellers go about 
buildin' their dams ?" said he, **well, its just this way. First 
they fall a good-sized tree across the creek. They know how 
to fall one just same as a wood-chopper. You ought to see 
'em walkin' round a tree, lookin' up and squintin' at the lean 
of it just same as a man, to see if it will drop right. Then 
when its down they cut it off the right length ; trench the 
ground at the ends and let it down. Next they gnaw oflf 
stakes ; lean 'em agin the cross-log and drive *em in the mud. 
Then they line 'em with brush and grass ; plaster it with mud 
and that jobs done. They build regular houses too. Use 
their teeth for saw and jack-plane, auger and broad-ax ; and 
their tails; they use 'em for trowels. Once I seen a funny 
sight. The young beavers wasn't workin' just to suit ; sort 
o'shacklin', didn't seem to have no git. What does the boss 
beaver do ? Paddled *em with his tail, he did, same as a 
shingle. I tell you beavers are curious things. You darsent 
let 'em see you though. If they do, ker-plunk they go in the 
water." Now this might have been so or it might not ; but, 
as he told it, this misnamed Cain's face was as bare of emotion 
as the Sphinx. Two of these dams were called the Twin 
Lakes and from some cause had no fish in them. 

' We met several bicycles as we went our way ; some ridden 
by women. According to law all dismounted when a team 
was met on account of the many dangerous places where 
horses might get scared and accidents follow. 

A belief in a personal devil seems to have prevailed with 



CALIFORNIA REVISITED. 283 

the sponsors of the objects in this Wonder Land. We saw 
where he cleaned his fish — devil fish, I suppose — for there 
were the scales ; saw his Frying Fan where he cooked 'em. 
Then there were his Thumb and his Elbow ; his Paint Pots 
and I don't know what else under his possessive name. We 
soon came to Norris Geyser Basin. Here is vent after vent 
steaming and throwing water and mud of the foulest kind. 
They are evolutive ; commence by springs and slowly grow to 
periodic spouters; some remarkable for their regularity. In 
time they die out ; leaving cavities on the surface and mimic 
caves. The "spouters" sometimes go oflf each minute ; some 
every hour; some hours and days apart. They throw to the 
height of from 40 to 250 feet. The "Giant" equals the last 
figures. Its eruptions are from two to four days apart, and 
last ninety minutes. "Old Faithful," in the Upper Basin, 
spouts every sixty-three minutes to the height of 150 feet. 
This is the most popular geyser — always being on time ; so is 
not disappointing. 

Still emigrants traveling the old way, despite the Pacific 
railroads. The fine National highways in the Park draw travel 
through it to adjoining states. I saw one group on its way to 
California. It had a special outfit in shape of a "house- 
wagon." Girls riding their ponies man fashion ; children and 
the aged in the wagon ; loose stock ; donkeys, horses and 
cows ; all led, however, as the laws require, were sights to at- 
tract our attention. 

At four o'clock we came to Fountain Hotel ; one of the 
"Association" hostelries. A unique. feature was its being sup- 
plied with natural hot water by gravity. The heat in the soil 
keeps up the temperature. The style there prevailing ; with 
menu, waiters and Concord coaches, was a rebuke to our hum- 
ble rig, and the tableless, chairless, meals and hclp-your-self 
way of dining that prevailed in our camp. But we comforted 
ourselves with Jo's assurance that, while the others were 



284 AROUND YELLOWSTONE PARE AND HOME. 

either missing out of the way sights or paying out large sums 
to see the same, we were taking them in gratis. Black 
gravelly roads; periodically spouting geysers; foul smelling 
pools and vapor-whitened trees were characteristics of the 
journey. We waited until four o'clock to see one geyser spout 
and were well rewarded. While here we were again halted by 
a soldier for our names ; reason, rocks are so defaced by signa- 
tures of tourists it was thought if these were recorded they 
would not be duplicated on the scenery. It was the old story 
of 

*' Fools names, like their faces. 
Always seen in public places.*' 

Around Fountain Geyser we saw the largest formations yet 
seen, and still growing. 

We now passed to the Upper Basin. This was circled by a 
low mountain rim with thousands of acres of verdureless plain 
spreading between. Above this rose mound after mound, 
showing active or extinct geysers. In some instances the 
formations were pulverized to dust by the stage wheels ; in 
others they were glistening with the impregnated water run- 
ning over them, while now and then we saw the eruptions 
which relieved the pressure underneath. 

Passing to the south edge of the Basin we crossed the Fire 
Hole river and encamped in the darkness on the edge of a 
wooded hill. We were beginning to find out that in addition 
to the extra rides granted us on account of our inferior accom- 
modations we were to have some extra camp-life experience in 
chopping wood and carrying the same; or wait indefinitely for 
our humble fare. We did not object so much to this on ac- 
count of scarcity of wood, but of the dullness of the cook's axe. 
We did not grow enthusiastic over our meals; canned goods, 
ham, bread and butter and cofiee ; which in the dim fire light 
were like Faith, the substance of things hoped for, but unseen ; 
which we felt for rather than selected from observation. For 
all that we were getting reconciled to our life and had quit 



CAUFORNIA REVISITED. 285 

envying those who slept in beds and had pie for dinner. That 
night it was picturesque around us; the wooded slope; the 
surrounding camp-fires h'ghting up the night with groups of 
men and women around them and their al fresco cooking and 
eating ; the pasturing horses and their tinkling bells ; the river 
murmuring below and the periodically spouting geysers seen in 
the moonlight beyond it. Our neighbors, men and women, 
were of the rougher, humbler class; emigrants or people from 
adjoining states on an outing ; with candor in their talk and 
habits. I began to think our camp-life was not so different 
from that in the fifties. 

Our driver was a serious fellow and funny also ; in his way 
of eating particularly. Your hon vivant takes a bite of this and 
a bite of that, back and forth, as it were; with drinks in be- 
tween. Not so Jo Cain. He would eat all his meat ; then 
finish his bread and butter, next his potatoes, then his beans ; 
making a sort of layer-cake supper. Then he would submerge 
this with drink ! 

But let's have some of his talking. Jo's company more than 
off-set the luxuries of our fellow tourists, in their hotels and 
big tents, and with their napkins, tooth-picks and colored 
waiters. "Talking about grit," said he ; but he had not been ; 
only thinking about it, like the rest of us ; for we were working 
well towards the peck of dirt allotted to man before he gets his 
six foot of mother earth. **Talking about grit, let me tell you 
about Jack Smith. He was the grittiest man I ever seen, and 
I've seen 'em as full of sand as a gizzard. I rode with Jack on 
the range in Western Newbraskcy. Jack's pard was a *greaser' 
— Mexican — tricky as sin, like the rest of them yeller angels 
(only Jo didn't say angels). How Jack ever came to go in 
'cahoots' with him's more'n I can see. Well, one day, on herd, 
they had a nasty quarrel, from callin' one 'nother liars, or 
cowards, or about a woman, it don't matter; all leads to the 
same. The greaser afterwards, over a game of cards, made up 



286 AROUND YELLOWSTONE PARR AND HOME. 

as Jack thought, but it was just his orneriness ; for all at once, 
takin' Jack unawares, and afore he could git his gun the greaser 
reached under the table, pretendin* to pick up a card, and 
slashed him. Then he run for the stable, jumped on his boss 
and loped off. Now here's where Jack showed his grit. The 
cut wasn't killin'; least ways not for Jack ; so he laid down ; 
drug himself to where he could cut some cloth into bandages, 
replaced his insides ; bound himself round and round ; went to 
the stable, got on his hoss and chased the blest Mexican. 
Would you believe it ? Jack caught up with him, pumped him 
full of lead, and come back. Then he rode forty-five miles for 
a doctor who sewed him up and got him well. Liviu' yet? 
Guess not ! Died with his boots on near the borders of No 
Man's Land. Lots of these sort of fellers in the cattle towns. 
I know a cowboy-bully challengin* a tender foot after teasing 
him the wust kind. The tender-foot had lots of sand but was 
no hand with a gun. So as the challenged party he chose that 
they should stand left hands hold of each end of a handkerchief 
and pump away with their g^uns till one or both was killed. I 
helped bury 'em both in our family graveyard over the range. 

"It was high fun for these fellers to guy strangers by shoottn' 
off their hats, or at their feet to make 'em dance. I once saw a 
gritty drummer watch his chance, jerk his tormentor's gun out 
of his hand and made him dance till he was tired. I had my 
feet shot at when I was only thirteen years old, but they didn't 
skeer me." Thus did Jo entertain, amuse and instruct us. 

The 8th was spent until two o'clock taking in the wonders of 
the Upper Geyser Basin. To see the dozens of gay Concord 
coaches and hundreds of passengers driving or sauntering 
around ; to watch the different Geysers spout, or look at the 
many pools or formations was interesting. We saw "Old Faith- 
ful" do his "turn," time and again ; the Bee Hive buzz, the Lion 
roar and the Lioness and her Cubs do likewise. We behold, 
the Cascade pour and the Castle beat off imaginary besiegers by 



caupornia revisited. 287 

the old plan of deluging them with scalding water; the Mortar 
belch forth, and the Riverside Geyser send steam in the air and 
throw water in the Fire Hole river. We also saw the Devil's 
Pump and the same gentleman's Punch Bowl, and where a 
trout could be caught in cold water and boiled in a hot spring 
a yard away from the river's brink. We also scented the worst 
smelling water and, per custom, drank the same. We saw, 
heard, smelled and tasted all these like good tourists, and then 
started on the way up the Fire Hole river. 

The road wound along through the woods on a grade that 
worried our halffed 
horses, to whom Jo 
was a merciful man. 
To our passengers im- 
patient urgings, he 
would get up a little 
equine spurt; then 
tactfully let it subside. 
At Keppler Falls we 
rested our beasts by 
inspecting this wild 
cataract. It was a 
sight, and our horses 
enjoyed it as much as 
did. A striking 
r object was Lone Star 
BEE HIVE GEVSER. Gcyscr, which we left 

the beaten road to see, and rather enjoyed the knowledge that the 
"bon-ton" tourists were not taken there ; such is man's selfishness. 
"Lone Star" was a truncated cone ten feet high, from which at in- 
tervals came a seventy-five feet column of steam and water. In 
this wilderness we found two camping parties; one of whom 
was fishing for a hotel ; anyhow he said so; but he might have 
been a poacher. He had a fine string of brook-trout ; a part of 




288 AROUND YELLOWSTONE PARK AND HOME. 

which we bought. They came from five miles up the river. 
He said there were lots of big game there; buffalo, elk, deer and 
bear. This fisher was a sort of Leather Stocking in wood 
knowledge. In hot weather the elk seek the snow-line on ac- 
count of the gnats, which drive them frantic ; causing them to 
loose the rich pasturage of the valleys. The buffalo are fast 
disappearing under the greatest care. Bears are looked on as 
so many hogs, coming around camps and nosing among the 
garbage. Deer and smaller game abound. It was a land to 
stir up the blood in a hunter's heart ; but if he had a gun he 
would find a seal upon it, whose removal meant hard luck for 
him. 

We left the F*ire Hole by a new road which followed a small 
trout stream. The ground was strewn with dead trees, while 
(all spruces and hemlocks towered along our winding way. 
Those Evangelic lines beginning "This is the forest primeval," 
came before me. 

There arc boards every mile through the Park noting the 
miles and elevation ; our last marked 8400 feet above sea-level ; 
our highest point, and higher than the South Pass of the 
Rocky Mountains. Thence our tired horses were forced to a 
trot on the down grade. Jo told how he had driven six horses 
around such curves, and there was almost a smile on his stolid 
face as he spoke of the scared passengers. It was now raining, 
and through the mists two of us saw bears up a ravine ; but as 
two did not, our show of telling the home folks of the wild 
beasts we saw was poor; particularly as Jo's casting vote was 
non-committal. At last wc debouched onto a natural meadow, 
level and oval in shape, and circled by wooded hills. Seeing a 
fire shooting through the mist wc drove to it and found it was 
our camp. And what a supper our cook had prepared ? It 
was too late to fry the brook trout we caught at the Lone 
Star Geyser ; but he had ready for us hot biscuit, doughnuts, 
ham, fruit, jelly and coffee. The cook — I never got his name 



CALIFORNIA REVISITED. 289 

— had done himself proud and was in a good humor. He was 
often the reverse ; not from our criticising his cooking, or from 
telling of the dainties our mothers use to make; but rather 
from natural contrariness ; partly occasioned from his diffi- 
culties in getting nerve tonic, and sometimes from super- 
abundance of the same. Theoretically the Yellowstone Park 
is clear of the cup which combines cheerfulness and inebria- 
tion ; practically it can be had by those who want it bad 
enough, and have the money to pay for it. 

After supper we got a lot of wood, and building a roaring 
fire were soon dried off; the rain having well moistened our 
clothing. There were four camping parties in the meadow, 
and our fire drew the individual members of them like moths. 
Mainly these were government ^road-builders, prospecting 
miners and chance parties going through the Park. They 
were typical back woodsmen, and it was not long before a 
heated discussion arose ; commencing with a criticism on the 
ways of the people of the East, and ending with a wordy 
squabble among themselves. The leading topics were gold, 
silver, women, anarchy, monopoly, socialism and labor unions. 
They could agree on each until it came to the right to work 
if one wanted to. Then the noise began, and I was glad when 
the motley crowd scattered. Contact dissipates much of the 
glamour with which novelists, like Bret Harte, clothe their 
wild-west heroes. In action they develop traits which excite 
a certain kind of admiration ; but in repose, and their repose 
is of a lively nature, one marvels why they are here, and have 
not passed with the buffalo and other animals on the way to 
extinction. Their talk that night was repellant to any one 
with a bit of refinement ; sometimes so vile that swine if gifted 
with human speech would hesitate before its utterance. These 
fellows have courage, and all that belongs to it in its lower 
sense, and in their pushing ways their cloudy lexicon may 
have no such word as fail ; but, when it comes to the depart- 
ment of synenyms, virtue corresponds with hypocrisy ; religion 



igO AROUND YELLOWSTONE PARK AND HOME. 

with designing motives ; profession with lax morals, and true 
manhood with their style of life; and their actions are guided 
by it. As I saw these fellows grouped around the fire and 
heard their talk it only needed the circle of white covered 
wagons to take me back to my life on the plains forty years 
before, and as the midnight hour came on I almost heard the 
voice of the wagon-master roaring out "Roll out Steve. Wake 
up your men and git round the cattle !" 

The next morning the weather was clear, and saw the 
campers going their devious ways, and in advance of us. Our 
cook again let himself out, and with flap-jacks and trout added 
to our fare, we enjoyed our breakfast. We passed up Heron Creek 
over a fair road. We lodged in vain for the promised wild 
animals; but saw only squirrels; the talk of the past night 
probably had frightened them ofl. As I said the government 
is doing its best to save the characteristic large game which 
once roamed the west. The sound of a stray shot is heard 
around the Park, and is the signal for a hurrying to and fro to 
trace its origin, and when found summary punishment follows. 

It was interesting to notice the spruce limbs, which were 
set slanting towards the ground from their winter loads of 
snow. In Rocky Mountain fruit ranches the trees must be 
shaken when under the same covering, as the limbs would be 
broken. Jo told us of these things, and fortunate did the 
passenger consider himself who rode with him. His varied 
knowledge of the country ; his many experiences and all-round 
good-heartedness made him acceptable company. He was 
loyal to his team and section. One horse had the heaves 
badly, but Jo would not admit it ; "no hoss ever had the 
heaves in this climate ; sort of cold ; nuthin' mor'n azmey 
anyway." He would rather buy oats, in that dear land, with 
his own hard earned money than his horses should go hungry . 
he would rather steal them. Every night he would hunt up 
the best pasture ; generally difficult, on account of the great 



CALIFORNIA REVISITED. 29! 

travel. Not satisfied with that he would help fellow-campers, 
new to him and the road, to find grass ; and one night, hearing 
the stroke of an axe through the darkness, and missing Jo, I 
knew he was getting wood for a late comer, an emigrant, with 
a family going through the Park. He had his peculiarities ; 
one was he would never ask a man his name. He did not 
know the cook's. He said in Butte, where he passed his win- 
ters, asking folks names meant fight. Their names, and some 
had duplicates, were their own and it was no one else's busi- 
ness. He carried this notion so far that his horses even were 
anonymous. 

From our last camp it was my turn to ride with Jo. "You 
said you was from Philadelphy," drawled he," "I was raised on 
Lombard street. Used to be lots of colored folks there. I was 
a bad lot ; wouldn't go to school, and full of mischief. Me and a 
chum used to like to plague 'em in their church ; turning bags 
full of cats loose among 'em, and the like. My daddy give me 
no end of lickins but it done no good. We moved first to Pitts- 
burg and then to Newbraskey. I was a bad boy still ; fightin', 
breakin' hosses, and the like. When I was about eighteen I 
most killed a man. He played a mean trick on me ; don't sup- 
pose he meant to, but he did. I could lay out a man in them 
days without need of a gun ; so the first thing he knowed he 
didn't know nuthin'; dropped like a cold wedge. I thought he 
was dead ; didn't come to for four mortal hours. I was fright- 
ened and quit fightin' after that. 

••I had a sister who was tryin' to fit herself for a school-marm ; 
but her money run out. Now I was dumb ; couldn't take 
learnin'; but I was bound my sister should have an education. 
I was workin' as stable boss for a miner, up to Butte, who also 
run a saloon. Work was slack and boss said I must tend bar ; 
all he had for me to do. All my savin's went to my sister and 
not wantin' her to leave school I concluded to work the rum- 
mill. Now as you see I'm neither a preacher nor the son of a 



2g2 AROUND YELLOWSTONE PARK AND HOME. 

preacher, but I was cranky about sellin* rum to people who was 
drunk. I refused 'em and fired bums out into the street. 
Found I was doin' wrong ; got conscientious about it. When 
pay-day came around the men wouldn't go to work till the 
last dollar was gone. So I changed my plans ; filled the empty 
ones full and the full ones fuller and encouraged bums. Boss 
started a crap game and let me run it. I played fair, only kept 
twenty per cent ; but it wasn't long before the miners were all 
at work. I expect Eastern people would think me on the road 
to the bad. It's the way they're brought up. They have their 
idees what's right and I have my idees what's right, so I guess 
we're even. The main thing is my sister got her education and 
is now teachin' school. I never told her how I got the money ; 
always was sort of particular ; she was." 

We were driving along a dangerous road. "If you ever git 
upset," said Jo, "jump out on the lower side of the coach. 
Most people scramble up hill when she goes ; all wrong. I 
suppose in case of accident the Association would be more re- 
sponsible about damages than us ; but if you're killed what dif- 
ference does it make; but their drivers are not much account; 
make a great flourish when they start from the big hotels, but 
when it comes to rounding a pint or holding the tongue bosses 
agin a curve they aint there. You may get no damage if I up- 
set you ; but I won't upset you." 

While ascending Heron Creek, at a point about half way 
from Upper Basin to Yellowstone Lake, we had a fine view of 
Shoshone Lake, a beautiful body of water ; mountain rimmed 
and fringed with timber. It is ofT the line of travel and about 
it large game may be found; bufifdlo, elk and the like. In its 
efforts to save the Bison the Park officials built a stockade for 
them here and kept them fed ; the heavy snows, however, filled 
the corral so deep and became so packed that the animals got 
out and wandered away. What preserved the buffalo in its 
natural state was its freedom to move at will from north to 



CALIFORNIA REVISITED. 293 

south as the seasons changed ; now the Park's " pent up Utica 
contracts its powers," and its passing will soon be witnessed. 
The same way with the elk. They come around the hotels in 
time of deep snows so starved and weak they can be pushed 
over. There is a sadness about the going out of our noble 
game, and the vain efforts to arrest it, that forcibly strikes the 
traveler. 

From a point on our route can be seen, on a clear day, the 
Three Tetons ; isolated peaks 14,000 feet high; remembered 
as landmarks in my old atlas. Our ride was for awhile unin- 
teresting, when suddenly there burst on the view the waters of 
the Yellowstone Lake; noted as the highest in America of 
equal size. The absence of settlements, nature unadorned or 
unmarred by men surrounding it. adds to the interest. Our ap- 
proach recalled the lines : 

"The traveler. 
As when, lone wandering in a tangled wood, 
Shade after shade that scarcely lets him pass, 
He comes on reedy fen or spreading lake 
Kimmed with the shade of trees that fringe its brink, 
And hails the glory of the wave and wood." 

Our camp wa.s on the ** Thumb," an arm of the lake, .so called 
from it being one of three shore indentations resembling fingers 
of a spreading hand. Here is a canvas lunch station where the 
Park Association people stop. While they sat around their 
tables and gorged the inner tourist with delicacies, we, a few 
yards away, partook of our canned goods and were happy; Jo 
eating his ** layer-courses," as usual ; between whiles drawling 
forth an anecdote, information, or words of dry wit. 

Our camp was amid '* formations" of hot water springs and 
miniature mud volcanoes, which threw pastey splotches at the 
onlookers, to the detriment of their clothing and at a risk of 
scalding them. These were disagreeable features of the shore 
line. By the edge of the lake I saw a washer-man dipping 
water from a pool so hot that he had to cool it with one-third 



294 AROUND YELLOWSTONE PARK AND HOME. 

Lake water. It was soft. Within a few feet from shore was a 
mound, made by formations some three feet high and eight in 
diameter. The crater was bowl-shaped, and filled with water 
so scalding that the fish seen in catching distance could be 
boiled in it. Near the steamboat landing I saw an aged French- 
man, Charles Choteau, who claimed to have been one of Fre- 
mont's voyageurs. He had a pack-horse and was prospecting 
for gold. This metal seems to brighten as time takes its flight. 
Chateau must have been eighty years old, and his going, he 
scarce knew where, with his animal loaded with gold-getting 
accoutrements, was the old, old story. 

From the " Thumb" passengers go two ways to the farther 
side of the lake ; by steamer across, or along shore by the 
same stages they came in. The water fare is J3.00 extra. The 
steamer was named the Zillah, after the mother of Tubal-Cain. 

** The Vulcan of old time, 
Of sword and falchion the inventor claimed"— 

as our difflcult parsing lesson quoted. She, the steamer, was 
brought here in sections. 

The freight rate from Cinnabar, alone, is $15.00 per ton to 
the Lake; so the Zillah cost a pretty penny by the time she 
was launched. The Captain was a popular man. which mean^ 
being all things to all men. He could fight his battles o'er 
again with war veterans; was an all round ladies' man ; fencing 
off too close attentions, however, by telling them he had a dear 
little wife at home; while he hunted with the hunters, and fished 
with the fishers. He had a small hatchet to grind, however ; 
having boats and fishing tackle to hire out at the end of the 
journey. It was interesting to see men, children of a larger 
growth, keen to make contracts for one dollar an hour for 
boats, tackle and bait ; to find before sunset that between frac- 
tions of hours, at each end of the time, broken hooks and ex- 
tra bait, their bill was five dollars. And then the Captain would 
allow the women to ** take tricks at the wheel," and show how 



CALIFORNIA REVISITED. 29$ 

they could guide the mighty Zillah ; so he pleased all and reap- 
ed many shekels. 

The engineer was a professional hunter, and I don't know 
how many contracts were made with him for outings the com- 
ing fall at high figures; hundreds of dollars per month. The 
state of nature surrounding us seemed to strike some of our 
tourists silly, and made them imagine themselves Nimrods, 
with a calling to destroy; but the contracts were doubtless for- 
gotten as soon as the spell was off. 

While waiting for the starting of the steamer I was amused 
and annoyed by the actions of a young man who was fishing 
from the lower deck. He was one of those overgrown spoiled 
boys ; sometimes allowed to run at large. The trout were con- 
trary and avoided his professional casts ; which came nearer 
hooking the clothing of the onlookers than the intended vic- 
tims. To help him out his father, from his vantage ground on 
the upper deck, made repeated suggestions. These the son 
bore for a while in scowling patience, until, provoked at last, 
he let out on his parental advisor, to the latter's mortification 
and the disgust of the spectators. 

The ride on the Lake was an event; its bright surface, its 
islands ; the rim of hills and bleak, notched mountains beyond> 
and the little Zillah, with its chattering or absorbed passengers^ 
churning through the disturbed water made it so. There were 
silhouettes on the uneven horizon, resembling a sleeping giant 
and other objects, which the Captain showed us, and which we 
all saw, or pretended to see, which did just as well. At Frank's 
Island we disembarked to see what we were informed would be 
large game running wild. It was nothing more than a one- 
horse, or rather six animal Zoo ; two bufTalo, two elk, a fawn 
and a mountain sheep. The Bisons did their part to entertain • 
pawed the ground and roared ; but the rest were tame, wild 
animals. The mountain sheep was a sickly afTair ; but they 
had a fence about him twenty feet high to show his capacity 



2g6 AROUND YELLOWSTONE PARK AND HOME. 

when well ; and he could truly cry like Sterne's caged 
starling, "I can't get out! I can't get out!" The fawn was so 
frail that when he confidingly nosed among us the Captain, 
who was our guardian, warned us not to touch him. The elk- 
were as tame as oxen. We were cruelly deceived ; but for all 
that we let on it was a great treat to see wild animals roaming 
fancy free and trembled when the Bison roared. Doubtless 
much was made of this sight when the tourists, of the average 
class, got home ; they had seen buffalo and elk and such run- 
ning wild, and heard *em, too. As for me I was happy to 
mount the Zillah's decks and sail away ; and as for the Lake, it 
was a thing of beauty if not an eternal joy. 

As soon as we landed at the Lake Hotel our sporting pas- 
sengers commenced putting out in boats to fish for trout, and 
came home at sunset satisfied with their luck, but grumbling at 
its cost. The bears which come from the woods in the evening 
to act as scavengers around the cook house are the hotel at- 
tractions. Several of these we saw prowling around and it was 
amusing to sec the mother of two cubs hustling them away 
towards the woods as we approached. Some of the bears 
were large ; one would have ''dressed" 300 pounds or more. 
How these fellows would have been in their homes I don't 
know ; but they were harmless here; as Jo said, "like so many 
skeery hoi^s." 

Our camp was in a grove near the Lake ; I could not have 
conceived a more picturesque place; the waves rolling up the 
beach and receding; the hills and snow-clad peaks beyond the 
far shores, and the woods about us, with camp-fires lighting up 
the gloom. Belated fishing boats were homing from the Outlet 
and wild- fowl were flying and screaming over head. 

The other members of our coaching party got in after dusk 
with a fine catch of trout. Our cook had expected to outdo all 
previous efforts in his line that night. The biscuits started 



CALIFORNIA REVISITED. 29/ 

well ; the men admitted them equal to their mother's make ; 
ladies sauntering around from adjacent camps owned they 
could not beat them, and promised to test them when ripe. 
Some side-dishes were also promised, but before our party got 
back things went wrong with the cook. The biscuits which 
had risen like the near-by waves had subsided even as they ; 
and he got mad and threw them away for bear-food. The 
trout came so late he fried them under protest ; the potatoes 
went too much to grease ; but by splicing out the fish with the 
inevitable apricots and dry bread, and adding some moonlight 
scenery thereto, we made out fairly well. After supper the rest 
went up to the Hotel leaving Jo and me to sit by the fire ; he to 
talk ; I to listen ; as was our way. 

"You've heard of people comin* West to grow up with the 
country," drawled my companion, after arranging the fire ; 
"well I growed up independent of it. Comin' at ten years old, 
with but three weeks' schoolin', I naturally took to the woods 
and prairies. To go out in company with some hunter or 
herder, or to run with wild fellers of my own age, was better 
than goin' to school ; even if there had been one near. Breakin' 
broncho colts or lassoin' young steers was my delight. I once 
put a girth on a colt ; bucklin' it so tight as to make him buck. 
Now that comes as natural to a young broncho as pie does to 
me. The colt I was teasin' started by puttin' his head down 
between his fore legs and then sashyade up and down until he 
was strained beyond mendin'. Now the only part of schoolin* 
^my daddy took stock in was the gad ; so when he found how 
the colt was he larruped me round the corral till I was done up. 
But I paid my daddy back one day ; we always was havin' it 
back and forth. I let him mount one of the wust bronchos we 
had, makin' believe I'd broke it. He come out wuss than I 
did. A rough way to use a feller's own daddy, you say ; well 
it's all in the bringin' up of the boy! 

"Ridin' on the cattle range and 'bustin* ' bronchos was my 



2g8 AROUND YELLOWSTONE PARK AND HOME. 

trade till I lost my courage. What does that mean ? Well it 
takes nerve to ride on the range and meet cow-boys in saloons 
where some old score is brought up and youVe got to face the 
music, or git called a coward. I wasn't afraid of cow-boy or 
orneriest mustang ; but there comes a time when you lose your 
courage. That's not sayin I'd put up with much now, but to 
be on the 'range you must be active, or git out; puts me in 
mind of the old buflalos on the Plains; once they were ready 
to head the herd and tackle a locomotive ; then they lose their 
grit and savvey, as age gits 'em ; next git hooked back to the 
rear by the young fellers, to be teased by the wolves and then 
ham-strung : lost their courage ! So now I'm content to drive 
stage, stable boss or mine. 

*' My main business was bustin' bronchos for a hoss raiser. 
For this I got fifty dollars a month, and five dollars a head ex- 
try for each hoss I broke. One day my boss fooled me into 
mountin' a mustang which he said was all right, I had a "spoon- 
bit" bridle, one that'll conquer any hoss if nothin' breaks. The 
bit came out of his mouth just as I drove my spurs in for a 
start. That hoss seemed then to be possessed of a devil, and 
bound to have his revenge. Such a joltin' no man ever got. 
He bucked and run until I thought he'd never let up on me. 
If I'd had sense I'd got off at the start. When they found me 
I was carried home half dead, and so crippled I'm afraid to look 
at an ornery hoss ; let alone ride one. That means I'm done 
with the range and I tell you, with all the risk, you hanker 
after it. So I cut off my hair, took a reef out of my hat-rim, 
and here I am ; drivin' a pair of old baits that's got no more 
spunk than a yoke of tired oxen, instead of bustin' the worst 
bronchos, or lassoin' the wildest steers. I hate to think it, but 
I've lost my courage. 

'*But its a wide world, and if I can't do one thing I can do 
somethin' else. As the Mormon boy, I'll tell you about 
thought, its bigger'n you think for. When the railroad got to 



CALIFORNIA REVISITED. 299 

Salt Lake there was an excursion got up and this boy and his 
daddy went on it, after biddin* their wives and mothers good- 
bye. They went East for 250 miles. When they got home, 
says the boy, ' Daddy !' if the world's as wide towards sun-down as 
to sun-up she's a whopper !'* 

The Lake Hotel is a fine affair, for the country ; with modern 
accommodation and a fine view of the Lake and mountains be- 
yond. It was now full to running over with tourists ; the over- 
plus sleeping in. large tents. The rates are necessarily high on 
account of its cost ; the material having to come so far. But, 
while having water and an electric lighting plant, there was no 
barber, save a saw-bones, who run the engine. His baited 
breath, dull razor, garrote chair and don*t-care-if-I-shave-you- 
or-not manners, coupled with a twenty-five cent charge, are my 
reminiscences of that **saloon." 

The next morning was a bright one, and while the cook, 
who was cross from last night's outing, was getting breakfast I 
took a saunter along the Lake. The sun had supplanted the 
moon, which had so glorified the scenery the night before ; 
lighting up mountain, water and shore. Not a hundred yards 
out a big pelican was fearlessly floating, while smaller fowl 
were flying or swimming around. The Lake was full of trout 
which now and then leaped from the water; while an early 
fisherman was seen rowing towards the Outlet. Now who is 
this coming up the shore of the lake ? It is "Calamity Jane," 
for so she introduces herself. Who about the Park, from 
tourist to road-mender and soldier don't know her; the Woman 
Scout and Female Spy for General Miles in his Indian war- 
fare ; the fille dii regiment in more than one campaign, 
though her age would suggest her as fitted for its matron ; the 
all around adventuress? In time of battle in front where 
bullets flew and tomahawks gleamed ; in Peace's piping times 
in the rear ; there was Calamity Jane ; hale fellow well met 
with soldier or civilian ! Brevity loving mountaineers call her 



300 AROUND YELLOWSTONE PARK AND HOME. 

**Calamity," but why such a general utility woman should 
have such a name, while the dictionary contains an anti- 
synonymal adjective is past knowing. "Jane the Beneficent*' 
should be the title of this Joan d'Arc of the Rockies, if we can 
believe her modest biography. Time has dealt gently with 
her, if her career goes back as far as she says ; for in accumulat- 
ing adventures in different campaigns she fears not the years 
of age they may suggest — in fact, as this thoughtlessness shows, 
there is not much that is feminine about her ; but from what 
is said don't infer that Jane is attractive. In fact she is a 
faded flower. This is in reference to the outward. Mentally 
she is as good as ever, and, from accounts, she has a tongue 
that neither road-maker, stage-driver nor Park soldier can 
match in retort, and I can't say more for it. Her mission 
among us was to sell her picture and a small book containing 
her adventures. There is nothing bashful about ''Calamity," 
and she should have made a good book agent, but both her 
history and photograph fell flat on us that morning. She said 
she had reformed from her youthful follies and we trust she 
had. Failing to make a sale she left us for more impression- 
able tourists — her bare head erect and with the march of a 

grenadier — and so passes out of this narrative "Calamity 

J» i 
ane. 

We broke camp at 9 o'clock on the morning of August loth 
and struck the Yellowstone just below the Outlet. Here are 
fine fishing grounds and a string of fifty or more of one to two 
pound trout are caught in an hour. Our route was down the 
river, a swiftly flowing stream, full of fish which frequently 
leaped in the air. We passed a party of emigrants; the 
women riding their horses man-fashion ; the stock looking 
poor; and went near a game enclosure where a final effort is 
being made to save the big American game — Buffalo, Elk, 
Deer and Mountain sheep; whose last refuge is the Park. The 
Bears are taking care of themselves. 

On this part of the journey was the greatest amount of dead 



CALIFORNIA REVISITED. JOI 

timber yet seen ; the whitened trunks lying in all positions ; 
**as if some giant had been playing Jack straws," as one of our 
men remarked. Jo told us of a dyspeptic passenger who grew 
daft over the wood-waste in the Park. He was from Germany, 
where every stick of timber is utilized. Each wind-fall of 
bleached, barkless trees stirred him to stranger expressions on 
the Governmental neglect in letting its timber go to waste ; 
but when he came to the last forest-wreck he could not do the 
matter justice ; but stared silent and open-mouthed. 

There were fine broadenings of water along the river, and 
beautiful meadows. At last we came to the Mud Geysers, the 
reverse of attractive. Here from one crater, or cave, thirty 
feet deep, periodically rises a volume of foul smelling, lead* 
colored mud, which suddenly culminates in vicious splashes, 
from which the too curious get disagreeable reminders of their 
visit. A dull roar accompanies these outbreaks. The sur- 
rounding foliage was covered with a deposit from the muddy 
steam. Hayden Valley, where the river widens before the 
canyon entrance, was a charming place. Sulphur Mountain, 
yellow with **color," and surrounded with vaporing springs, has 
an odorous remembrance. The landscape had made startling 
changes from the grand to the disagreeable. 

We were now getting amid the wildest scenery in the Park 
— the Rapids and Falls (^f the Yellowstone. The first swirl 
amid rocks and through narrow passages and soon reach the 
Upper Falls, where a 140 foot leap is made. The next drop, 
400 yards below, is 360 feet — figures which startle you till you 
compare the watery flights with the height and depth of moun- 
tain and canyon around them, when their grand consistency 
stills the doubting tongue. The V shaped gorge zig-zags 
from side to side in a depth of from 1000 to 1500 feet; the 
sides tinted in brilliant red and yellow ; the latter color so 
predominating that the region, lake and river, thence takes its 
name. There is much to strike the eye, while the ear is 



302 AROUND YELLOWSTONE PARK AND HOME. 

greeted by the roar of the far-below waters and distant Falb 
and the novel sounds from the scream of eaglets in their rock- 
cranny nests. These can be heard throughout the day and 
their shrill, peculiar whistling will be remembered, and the 
lines of that old song of the Plains, in reference to the patriarch 
of the fleecy flocks of Darby, and his altitude of wool : — 

** Which grew so mortal high 
The eagles built their nests there. 
For I heard their young ones cry." 

The Grand Falls of the Yellowstone are of course the great 
attraction. Dizzy pinnacled heights are railed off where visi- 
tors can sec them in all their grandeur. One of these eyries is 
1 200 feet above the river; half of which height is of almost 
perpendicular, jagged rocks. These views, after the manner 
of similar localities, are named Inspiration Point, Artist's Point, 
Grand View, &c. For the present the National road is 
diverted from the completion of its circle down the Yellow- 
stone by great obstructions and turns off to Norris Basin ; but 
it is in process of completion along the river to Cinnabar. The 
Government is spending much money to allow additional won- 
ders of the Park to be seen, as well as for the salvation of its 
animals. 

A rain came on in the afternoon, but not before we had 
seen the chief attractions. This sight-seeing was tiresome to 
pedestrians as well as horses, from steep paths and roads. Jo, 
ever faithful to team or passenger, took us all around, fearless 
of curves, jutting points or heavy grades and brought us safely 
back. His guiding hand and forethought were not all • his 
fund of experience, anecdote and dry wit his three fares will 
remember ; and so mayhap, will the reader. 

Our camp was in a damp grove and from the rain our wood 
was in bad shape for drying clothes, cooking our ham and 
potatoes or frying our flap-jacks. Our cook was wearing out ; 
growing ill-tempered and was occasionally loaded down with 



CALIFORNIA REVISITED. 303 

the wine of the country. This, like our elevation, was high 
but cook must have it. He could only get money through Jo, 
but get it he did under various pretexts in the line of culinary 
wants, and converted it into stimulants which made him first 
joyous, and then ill-contrived; much to the detriment of his 
work. He was rather entertaining at the start. The narrative 
of his boyish runaway from a cruel father ; his cooking ex- 
perience, from the rough and tumble of a logging camp life to 
the cuisine of pretentious hotels, and odd stones were doled out 
to us while awaiting the rise of biscuit sponge, fry of trout and 
ham ; or during wash of tin-ware. The secrets of the kitchen 
of hotel and restaurant he gave us ; mercilessly laying them 
bare to our enquiring minds. He was a socialist ; down on the 
rich ; the money lender ; the tariff; the minister ; the profes- 
sor of virtue ; but, like his class, prone to make general asser- 
tions instead of giving proof. He drank more and did less as 
the journey progressed, and when he left us next morning, it 
was for good and all; leaving us to get our lunch as best we 
could. 

We had several camping parties of men and women that 
night in our damp halting place near the Falls. They were of 
all sorts ; sleeping in "A" tents or wagons, and with manners 
which collided with our ideas of refinement. They were tour- 
ing the Park, and most of them had followed us for three days, 
in wagons, and on horse-back and bicycles. On land-travel 
women look at their best in Pullman cars, and in the parlors 
and dining-rooms of hotels, like those in the Park. Traveling 
as these did, and seated around their camp-fires, sometimes in 
drizzling rains, and partaking of their rough fare, rough fashion, 
they are not an aesthetic success. The parties seemed to en- 
joy themselves, however, and their style of traveling was their 
affair; not ours. They left us the next morning and our 
parting was anything but regretful. 

With our mattresses on the wet ground we passed our last 



304 AROUND YELLOWSTONE PARK AND HOME. 

night of tent life; an experience, short-lived, to go with a 
longer one of the far past, when I was much younger and more 
capable of enjoying open air living. We ate our last out-door 
breakfast on the morning of the nth, and, ascending a long 
hill, left the Yellowstone Valley and passed over to Norris 
Basin. We overtook one of the emigrant parties who camped 
with us the night before and which was on its was to Wyom- 
ing. What a restless people, these Westerners are; always 
moving ; a procession of the aged and children in wagons, and 
men and women similarly riding their horses, with hungry 
dogs and sad-eyed cows, held in leash, as ordained by Park 
laws. Loose animals meant a halt by the ever watchful guards; 
a send back to headquarters and loss of valuable time. We saw 
one party going back under arrest for leaving part of his stock 
loose, and it seemed hard lines for them. 

A pretty sight was Virginia F'alls. The rapids, above and 
below our road, paralleled until by an acute angle it diverged. 
This is called Devil's Elbow. In coming down the grade a 
few days since, from the lock breaking, a driver was killed. 
Dead timber and stretches of meadow, with a military post on 
the margin, were features of this part of the journey. . 

Descending to Norris Basin we encamped on "Gibbons 
Creek," a beautiful stream winding through a mountain bor- 
dered plain. Our faithless, nameless cook, who should have 
been in waiting, with our last open air meal in readiness, had 
passed on with his appliances ; his Dutch-oven, frying-pan and 
coffee-pot. A long deprivation of his regular fire-water allow- 
ance had made him mindless of whatever duty he owed us, and 
he had hastened onward his sorry team to Cinnabar, where he 
could quench his thirst ; which surreptitious drinks on the way 
had merely whetted. Drivers were plenty in the Park, but 
cooks were scarce ; hence the independence of the last. Jo, 
however, happened to have some left-over bread and a can of 
those tiresome apricots in his wagon ; so by drinking in the 



CALIFORNIA REVISITED. 30$ 

scenery, in place of the usual coffee, we made an apologetic 
dinner. Our team was in bad plight also ; for while water was 
plenty oats was scarce ; the frugal owners having only furnished 
half rations of that equine stimulant; so Jo could hoard up no 
gallop for the journey's end — a snail's pace taking its place 
when we came to Cinnabar. 

At this camp we had *'swung round the circle" and coming 
sights had to lose their novelty. How commonplace they grew 
as we resumed our journey. It was even as too much quail on 
toast — we had seen it all and were disillusioned. The pretty 
trout stream had lost its eddies and ripples ; Obsidian Cliff no 
longer glistened ; the beavers seemed to have been foolishly 
busy in their creek damming ; Swan Lake had dwindled to a 
duck-pond, and the Golden Gate post grown dumpy ; while the 
Rustic Cascade was but a common waterfall. The Gardner 
Canyon was a tame affair to the Yellowstone Gorge, and the 
"Eagles Nest" no curiosity after the eyries of the Grand 
Canyon. As for the Mammoth Hot Springs, which had so im- 
pressed us ; when we saw fresh tourists climbing from point to 
point ; from Minerva Terrace to the heights above, we felt like 
Dickens' custodian of London Tower, who chuckled over the 
fools who daily climbed the high stairway, instead of resting at 
the foot as he did, on a comfortable bench. We pitied them ; 
toiling and sweating up the slippery heights at the risk of 
breaking through the treacherous crust, and, falling into some 
future Devil's Kitchen, their remnants to lend it additional in- 
terest to succeeding tourists. As for our coaching party, the 
boredom of continuous enforced companionship was upon us; 

and even Jo, our faithful guide, and of course philosopher and 
friend ; his status was working towards the general common- 
place level. Quadruplex pumping had run his well of informa- 
tion dry, so that it was irresponsive to the stroke, and the 
novelty of his character was wearing off; but by a supreme 
mental effort we lifted him into his proper place ; so that our 
parting was measureably consistent with our expectations. 



i 



306 ON THE HOME STRETCH. 

But don't let the reader misapprehend. Our cynical feeh'ngs 
were temporary, and to be changed in near-by time, when the 
conditions of body and mind became normal ; so we could 
truly say of the Yellowstone Park that there is not its area in 
America of equal sublimity and interest. Its eruptive wonders ; 
its mountain scenery; its falls, lakes and streams and its un- 
tamed wildernesses will forever be held in our memories ! 

Again at Cinnabar. A ride to Livingston, and we were on 
the through line eastward. But what is this stream that goes 
meandering, wallowing across the weed covered plain ? Is 
this uninteresting, low-banked river our **airy.fairy" friend of 
the mountains ; an ever delight ? It is even so. Well, if the 
**Big Muddy" is the Father of Waters the Yellowstone must 
be the son, and if the comparison is not irreverent, the prodi- 
gal son. Its career certainly resembles his. A pure childhood 
in the heart of the Rockies, a quiet youth on the bosom of the 
Lake ; the start of a noble career at the Outlet ; a pastoral 
life around the meadows of Hayden ! Then come the effects 
of bad company, when the neighborhood of the mud-slinging 
Mud Geysers and mal-odorous Sulphur Mountain is reached; 
a rapid career, ending in successive down-falls at the Canyon, 
from which, like Lucifer, it could never rise ! Next a low 
career on the plains leading to the Missouri, where it falls on 
the bosom of that stream. But as it never left the Father of 
Waters my simile has no legs to stand on ; so we will let that 
pass, and, leaving metaphor, attend to facts, which, though 
mulish things, are more instructive. 

While waiting in the dark morning hours at Livingston for 
the east-bound train ; sauntering back and forth, in time-killing 
efforts, I came across one of the interesting characters fre- 
quently met with in the far West. This was a young man out 
of work and ready for it in near by mines or far away Klon- 
dike. He was intelligent, and in a burst of confidence told 
me his tale of woe. Coming west to grow up with it, he had 



CALIFORNIA REVISITED. 30/ 

accumulated $5000; when, thinking it not well to live alone, 
he found a female Barkis and was married ; to find that while 
lovely woman stoops to folly man sometimes finds, too late, 
she can betray. Under pretexts this one had the $5000 made 
over to her, and then, in western parlance, "shook" her ven- 
ture. He went into the courts; but it was too late; a 
chivalrous western jury was too much for him ; so, leaving the 
gay deceiver, he was going to try his fortunes anew. This 
man, who doubtless had looked in the throats of Derringers 
and teeth of blizzards, gave way as he told his marital troubles 
and choked down with a sob. Then came the west-bound 
train thundering in; a halt; a getting aboard of our man of 
.sorrows; a surge ahead, and he passed from sight; but not 
from memory. 

For 350 miles we followed the Yellowstone, until at Glen- 
dive it passed into the Missouri. The country along its shores 
was poor ; stretch after stretch of pasture lands fenced with 
barbed wire and covered with sage. The houses, on ranch or 
in village were of sod and log. The ride was uninteresting, so 
entertainment had perforce to come from the passengers. 
And varied these were ; from children on the mother's lap to 
aged men and women. These last were mainly Califomians 
on their way East, and I thought they felt worse, after vain 
efforts to get sleep in their uncomfortable seats, in the morn- 
ing than when in youth they crossed the plains and crept from 
tent or **prairie schooner** to greet the sun. Naturally they 
never complained and were full of reminiscences. One old 
gentleman had just revisited old scenes and it was interesting 
to hear him tell of his efforts, after so long an absence,- to 
locate the scenes of his long ago successes and failures in the 
mining country, among abandoned tunnels and placer wash- 
ings. I felt a fellow-feeling for him, when he told of his ef- 
forts to find those he once knew ; nearly all **over the range ;" 
scarce one to recognize him. 

The country improved as we ncared the Red River Valley, 



i 



308 ON THE HOME STRETCH. 

and soon we were in a fine wheat country ; the grain just 
ginning to yellow. The stations were cluttered up with ncil 
reaping machinery on sale. Owing to carelessness this only 
lasts three or four years; it being left exposed to all weathers 
At Little Falls we saw the Mississippi. Here i* quite a water- 
power, utilized for lumber and paper mills. It is a country oJ 
lakes, swamps, and free-silver sentiment. This last abounded 
on the train. You could hardly find a passenger but what was 
steeped to rudeness with ideas it was supposed were buried 
past resurrection in the election of 1896. 

At 6 o'clock, August 13, we reached Minneapolis, and the 
next day was utilized in visiting the large Flour and Lumber 
mills of that place. St. Anthony's Falls are 45 feet high and 
from these come the power which makes the city prosperous 
and rich. The Pillsbur>' Flour Mill, **B,** interested us much. 
Here a turbine wheel fifty-two inches in diameter and sixty 
inches high, through a belt 250 feet long, 36 inches wide and 
weighing 2000 pounds, drives machinery which produces 6000 
barrels a day. A fund of information can be gathered here 
from persons whose business it is to show strangers around, 
and who are very obliging. Most visitors feel relieved when, 
on offering their cicerone a fee at the close of the tour, they 
are told it is against rules for them to take anything but 
thanks — which cost so little ! 

Then among the saw-mills. To see these hungry" giants 
chewing forest-products would sorrow the author of "woodman 
spare that tree." Six logs a minute come up the ways on an 
endless chain and three band-saws and one gang-set shred 
them to lumber. Steam piston rods drive the carriages, and 
six cuts a minute are made through a sixteen-foot log. These 
are handled automatically by pressing a lever, when huge 
cranes or jaws, swing around, or jump through the floor and 
without manual labor the logs are placed and started on their 
journey, to come out boards or plank. In three seconds a log 



fp 



CALIFORNIA REVISITED. 309 

V is transferred, from the endless procession coming from the 
ij.ways, to the carriage. The different processes are seen from a 
£ high, railed platform and are intensely interesting. The men 
J ride back and forth on the carriages, moving the guides, and 
I tossing the slabbed logs off to where they are siezed by huge 
J calipers and placed three deep before gang-saws, which in a 
; minute's time make them into boards. These go forward on 
rollers, or sideways on endless chains, in a continuous proces* 
sion of one a second to out-door sheds, where they are sorted 
as they go by, and loaded on cars to pass to the piling yard, 
or the planing mill ; where the narrowest boards are made into 
flooring. In the meantime the slabs are going in another direc- 
tion ; the best cut up into shingles, paling and lath ; the refuse 
going to firewood, which is hauled away in huge carts. Large 
towers, 80 feet high, are built to burn the surplus shavings and 
dust ; but these are so utilized for fuel and the ice-houses that 
they are no longer used. The saw-dust is almost like the fiber 
called Excelsior ; from the rapidity the saws go through the 
logs. Huge fans blow it on to mimic mountains, where it lies 
until the ice-houses need it ; or to the boiler furnaces, which 
receive it automatically. The lath-edgings are tied in bundles 
and sold to bakers for fuel. All the waste is utilized, instead 
of being cast into the river as formerly. 

In the loft, above the rush and roar, the saws are mended, 

straightened and sharpened. I counted two hundred new 

gang-saws still unpacked ; and as many ready to sharpen. 

There were twenty or thirty band-saws. These were fifty feet 
long, and have three hundred and fifty teeth each. They are 
sharpened by machinery ; being stretched on pullies, and 
pushed with a rachet under an emory wheel, which rises and 
falls as the teeth pass. It takes ten minutes to go once 
around ; although it requires from two to three revolutions to 
finish filing. These saws frequently break, when an expert 
brazes the severed ends together ; grinds the splice down even- 
ly, and they are again ready for use. The gang-saws are 
sharpened in the same manner. 



310 ON THE HOME STRETCH. 

Thus are the trunks of the tall pines, which last winter 
made green the plains and mountains of the upper Mississippi, 
torn and slashed by the greedy saw-mills, which daily turn out 
500,000 feet, each, of lumber; to say nothing of the bi-products. 
The sight of this, to say nothing of the noise and turnnoil, is 
a not inappropriate following to our other experiences. 

From the saw and flour mills of the city to the urban beau- 
ties at Minnehaha is from prose to poetry, indeed ! but we 
weary tourists made the journey in a perfunctory way ; for we 
were sated with sight-seeing. But to view the Laughing Waters 
is the proper thing, and when that can be accomplished at an 
expense of five cents in current coin and ten minutes of time 
my motto is, do it ! Minnehaha Falls is an enchanting and 
romantic spot. I won't say the town children cry for it ; but 
lovers sigh for it, and poets descant on its attractions. But for 
us ; fresh from the Wonders of the Yellowstone, with its 
Canyon, and Falls that dive to depths abysmal, while, amid 
sullen roar the vapors rise to meet the screaming eagles in 
their rocky eyries, our senses were sated with their glories. It 
was a case of '^beaucoup de perdrix'' — too much toast, with 
quail trimmings — an embarrassment of richess. We were not 

like the conventional Gradgrind, who^ji^en shown the won- 
ders of Niagara, said, **Well, whal^mt to do.^ You could 
not expect water to do anything but falTaown. If it was fall- 
ing up it would be worth seeing!" We were simply full and 
running over with grand sights seen. The Yellowstone Falls 
were the effervescence of the Wine of Delight ; Minnehaha as 
the heel-taps of exhalted houpii; but don't blame us for the 
falling flat of this last cascawe ; but the scenes which over- 
whelmed our senses in the heart of the Rockies! 

Now as the Yellowstone rushes down its Canyon, or as the 
waters of Ladore went their rapid descent, so must I hasten to 
my journey's end. We went our way from Minneapolis the 
evening of our sight-seeing, and the next morning were in 
Chicago ; at which point I had **swung round the circle." 
Thence, eastward, I was on familiar ground and on the fiftieth 
day from my departure was at home. 




FKONTIHHIKCK TO "A CALIKOHNIA TRAMH." 
SHOWING "SALT LAKE EXPRESS" OF FORTV VEARS AGO. 



^^Illlplllllllllllllplllllllllllllllllllllllllplllllllllllllplplplplllllllpllllplllllllplp^ 

"A CALIFORNIA TRAMP;'' 

TUN experience of travel across the plains and mountains of 
^ the farther West, and life in California forty years ago. 
Large octavo, illustrated. 

This is a suitable companion-volume for ** California 
Revisited;'' treating of life and modes of continental travel, 
antedating the Pacific railroads, and should interest those of 
this easy-going age. 

Price $1 75, by mail. 

T. S. KENDERDINE, 

Newtown, Penna. 



Price of " California Revisited," mailed free, $2.00. 



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